Death on the Nile
by WinButler
Summary: A Yu Gi Oh version of Death On The Nile by Agatha Christie. Serenity gets killed, and Ryou and Yami have to work out who did it. But it seems everyone, not just the killer, has something to hide...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Gi Oh or the story Death On The Nile by Agatha Christie 

Useless note: If you read the original first chapter, I have decided to screw that idea (not that I don't love breaking the rules) because it was, well, shit, and just start the damn story. It might not make sense, but just go with it. FYI, I made up a new person, Duke Devlin's non existent sister, Ariel, because, well, I didn't have enough people. And, um, sorry, I just have to tell you this: Unless it says so, the characters don't know each other!

Death On The Nile 

Chapter one

Serenity Wheeler was standing in the hallway of her large, Park Avenue apartment, waiting for her best friend to arrive. She hadn't seen Ariel Devlin since she moved out of Domino City three years ago. And although she was looking forward to Ariel's return, she was worried about Duke. Last Serenity heard, he was working as some sort of servant to Mai Valentine. Serenity had liked Mai, but always thought she was far too into her looks, and was certainly arrogant. Rich now, of course, some sort of fitness video craze. And had she really got Duke to work for her? Although Serenity found it hard to swallow that Duke would serve anyone else, she could see Duke agreeing to working for Mai for one reason only.

After ten minutes of standing around, Serenity began to get bored. Ariel was notorious for how un-punctual she was, and today was no exception. As soon as she sat down and started fiddling with her expensive diamond necklace, she heard a knock at the door.

"Finally!" she said to herself, as she proceeded to go get the door. When she opened it, she saw a girl standing there with glaring ginger hair, dressed entirely in purple, wearing an ankh around her neck, black lipstick, and a $1.49 sticker on her forehead. Yep, it was Ariel.

"Hey! How are you?"

"I've been better" said Ariel. "You remember that guy I told you about back in Domino City?"

"Um, no, because you wouldn't tell me his name." Replied Serenity with a grin.

"Well, the jerk is going off on some cruise to Egypt with his _brother, _of all people! You would think that clown would respect our relationship! I mean, he could have at least invited me."

"Er, what relationship? And invited you? To Egypt? Ariel, you hate hot weather, camels, and boats. What would you have wanted to go on a cruise to Egypt for?"

The eccentric girl sniffed. "Well, it would have been nice to have at least been _asked._"

Serenity rolled her eyes. This sort of thing wasn't uncommon in the over dramatic girl, she had the uncanny ability of making everything about her. Despite the fact that she dressed like a hippy, in Serenity's opinion, and looked as laid back as it was possible to look (not to mention attempted to act like it) Serenity had always noticed things about her personality that didn't add up. She was very shrill, bossy, and sometimes obsessive. She tried to hide it, but Serenity could sense things about people that they might have been trying to hide. She was rather stupid in quite a number of respects, and she knew that. She had often wondered about becoming some sort of psychiatrist, she enjoyed delving into other people's minds, but she preferred the life she had. She was a nervous, gentle person, and didn't know if she was cut out for work.

"So, what is it you wanted to tell me, Serenity?"

"Just that I've decided to marry Mr Von Schroeder."

"You have? Serenity, that's great! When's the wedding? Soon?"

Serenity laughed. "April. I suppose you'll want to be a bridesmaid."

"Duh! Of course I would want to, stupid!"

"Well, it'll just be you and Tea. You remember Tea, don't you?"

"Sure."

"Well, she's - " Serenity was cut off by the sound of the ringing phone. "Hello? Ooh, speak of the devil. We were just talking about you. Oh, right, me and Ariel. Yeah, that's her. Hey, I think that's a little harsh. She's just….different. Anyway, what is it? Oh, yeah? OK, you can drop by later today if you want to. God, the whole of Domino City'll be here by the end of the day. Yeah. All right. Bye."

"Who was that, I wonder?" asked Ariel.

"It was Tea. She's coming down here today. She says she has some sort of big news for me. I hope it's exciting, nothing much ever happens in New York. Although, did you hear, one of my English trustees has just died."

"Oh, what a shame. One less person to guard that fortune of yours."

"It _is _a shame, he was a sweet man. To be fair, I still have Mr Bakura. Trustee. To my fortune."

"I gather that for a trustee you don't trust him an inch?"

Serenity sighed. "He's OK, I suppose. Cute enough. My dad was, like, his mentor. Years older than him, of course. And I suppose I trust him. But it doesn't matter, now I'm marrying Mr Von Schroeder, I'll get my money anyway."

Ariel looked with contempt at Serenity. "Is that necklace diamond?"

END OF CHAPTER

It was rather a weird place to stop, but I have to go. Please review, I don't even mind if it's bad (Well, not that much). Just don't be mad at me when I kill people. I only kill the annoying ones anyway. PS: Are you on the party boat?

xxxxxx Win


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Gi Oh or the story Death on the Nile

Chapter Two

Serenity was waiting anxiously for her friend Tea to arrive. Tea lived in Domino City, and didn't get out to New York much. Which was a shame, because the two girls had been best friends for a long time, and Serenity couldn't imagine wanting to see anyone else more. And she was slightly worried, because it was already twenty past seven, and Tea was known for her punctuality. Unlike Ariel, who, Serenity was glad had just left, still bearing the $1.49 sticker on her forehead. Serenity despaired for Ariel sometimes, she was so crazy and irresponsible. And often lived far beyond her means, Serenity had noticed. Didn't have a job, didn't have a boyfriend (and no, Seto Kaiba, who had blown her off countless times, didn't count) and yet just last week had purchased a rather extravagant yacht. Serenity didn't even think she had come into any money when her father had died. Very odd. All of a sudden, the doorbell rang. Waiting patiently for the servant to let Tea in, and then rushing to greet her friend, Serenity was all of a sudden very excited.

"Tea! You came!"

"Of course I came, why wouldn't I?"

"I was worried you weren't. You're never late, after all."

"Well, the traffic was a nightmare. Anyway, don't you want to hear my news?"

"What do you think? Spit it out, what is it?"

"I'm…..I'm getting married!"

"You are? That's great! Me too!"

"Oh, you are? Good for you, Serenity, you've always been so picky. I'm glad you've finally chosen someone worthy of your greatness."

"Er….right. Anyway, do you want to meet my fiance? I'd love to meet yours."

Tea brightened at this. "You would? Great, because I've told him about you and he wants to meet you, too. How about today?"

"Today?" Serenity was stumped. "Where is this fiance of yours?"

"Oh, he's at the hotel. So, do you want to? We're really dying for the two of you to meet."

"OK." Serenity replied warily. "Why is this, exactly?"

Tea shuffled uncomfortably. "Well, we can't get married, really, unless, well, unless Yugi gets a job. He's not very well off, and you know, neither am I, and he really, really needs a job."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Well," said Tea anxiously, "We were hoping you'd offer him job to work on your land." She blurted out.

"What? Really? He wants to work here? But……it's not really a very ambitious career decision, is it? Is he sure?"

"Please, Serenity, he's got nothing else! My mom lives in, like, redeveloped housing in Jersey and if he doesn't get a job, we'll have to go and live back at her place and I don't want that."

"Well…..well….well sure! Why not! He can work here if he really wants! And I suppose that means you two will be living nearby?"

"There's this nice area upstate that's not very expensive. We've put a down payment on a small place there. In anticipation of him getting this job, that is."

"Ok, well, that sounds great. So I can meet him? Although, you know, today's not a very good time, I've got my trustee coming in from England. One of the others just died, and we've got some things to sort out before I get married to Mr Von Schroeder."

"_Mr Von Schroeder? _Are you joking? That guy? That's who you're marrying? Geez, I always kind of thought he was gay."

"Hey! Just because a man has pink hair, you automatically classify him as - "

"You know, Serenity, let's not get into this, I think we've had the conversation before. Although I did always wonder why you took his side. I guess now I know."

Serenity shrugged. "I guess you do."

"So you'll meet Yugi when?"

"I don't know. Today I've got Mr Bakura coming - "

"Ooooh, really? Man, is he hot."

"Can I finish? Anyway, tomorrow, I'm seeing Cecelia and her husband about the estate, the day after I've got a man from Horse and Hound coming in to photograph the house, how about Saturday? We could all get together at that new restaurant, you know - "

"Actually, Serenity," Tea chipped in. "I think I'd prefer it if we went someplace cheap. I'm going out to a fancy restaurant with Yugi tonight, and I can't afford it twice in one week."

"Oh, the expense is no problem."

"No, Serenity, I don't feel right borrowing money from friends. That's final."

"Oh, all right then. A pub will do. So I'll see you on Saturday?"

"Sure will. Bye, Serenity!"

Serenity waved her friend out and then went back to sit in the parlour. She was intrigued to find out who her friend was marrying. She didn't feel the meeting had gone perfectly, normally the two were so amiable, but today there seemed to be some kind of tension between them. Perhaps it was the subject of money coming between them again. Well, at least Tea knew how to live within her means, and didn't go blowing disproportionate amounts of money on ridiculous luxuries she couldn't afford.

Later that night, at a restaurant uptown…….

Yami walked into the restaurant feeling decidedly good. Another case closed, he thought to himself, reminding himself of the unpleasantness they had gone through with the last one. He hoped never to see that Raphael again, he hadn't been the nicest person Yami had ever worked with. He remembered Ryou Bakura from about a year before, when the two of them had met at a case Yami had had to take care of in England. He had been nice. A little shy, and clearly a rookie, but otherwise a good detective and pleasant to work with. Yami wondered if he'd be seeing Ryou at any time in the near future. He hoped so.

He took his seat at his table for one, wishing he had someone to join him. He had never been good with emotions of any sort, and had never had a girlfriend, which didn't really surprise him. He was so preoccupied with work, he just didn't have the time for that sort of thing. Besides which, he didn't feel like a good opener with women was: "Hi, I'm a five thousand year old spirit who now works as a detective, would you like to have dinner?" He was just very bad with all of that sort of thing. Which was OK.

He glanced over to the other side of the restaurant, to see a young couple, neither of whom could have been more than a couple of years younger than Yami, who was 27. They looked happy, free spirited, definitely excited. The guy had hair quite similar to Yami's.' In fact he looked rather similar to Yami in several respects, apart from the fact he looked younger and was much shorter, Yami could tell that even sitting down. The girl had shoulder length brown hair, grey blue eyes, and a bright smile that Yami noticed immediately. She was wearing a rather worn looking red dress, and her pretty face was made up with black kohl eyeliner and deep red lipstick. The two were talking jovially together, having fun, laughing. If he listened closely, Yami could hear what the two were saying.

"Oh, Yugi, please, I'm begging here!"

"No, Tea, I'm sorry, I normally let you have your way, well, normally there's not much option, but come on. I hate the heat. And I've heard the camels spit on you. And besides, where do you propose we come up with the money? You think this friend you're forcing me to meet will give us a cheque for $5000 for what, a weeks work?"

"I'm not saying that. Besides, we could save! I've got a little money stashed in my bank account, and I do work, you know, I don't just sit at home, do nothing, and expect to be able to pay the bills."

"Yes, but Egypt? We can't afford Egypt, even if we do save up. It's not for working class folks such as ourselves, Tea."

"_Working class folks? _What is this, the 1950's? Everyone goes on holiday, Yugi, that's just the way it is. We have to too."

"God, can't we just take a day trip to LA? I hear the weather's nice this time of year."

"Are you kidding me, Yugi? We're going to Egypt on our honeymoon, and that's final."

Yami wondered if this seemingly happy couple always had spats of this nature. He battled with himself not to hope so.

A Park Avenue apartment, New York City

"Oh, please can I come, Miss Valentine? I'll be good!"

Mai Valentine scoffed. "If you're going to act like a two year old, I'll do more than leave you at home, Duke Devlin. You're a servant. You don't come on holiday with me."

"But you need me to take care of you, Miss Valentine. You need me to bring your three cases of make up. Do you want to carry them yourself?"

"Carry them myself? I would not. I'm bringing my cousin."

"Rebecca? She wont be too thrilled about the prospect of dragging your luggage around. Besides which, haven't you always said, you're independent minded, you don't need others to do things for you. Don't you always say that?"

Mai sniffed. "Well, I suppose you're right. Meaning I don't need to bring anyone at all!"

"No, no, that's not what I meant. Oh, reconsider, Miss Valentine. Isn't it only I who can apply your eye make up so people can't tell you're over – over _25._" He whispered this last word as if it were a swear word.

Mai squealed. "I am _not _over 25, and don't you dare say that I am!"

Duke sniggered. "Oh, yeah you are, Miss V, you're 28, if I remember correctly."

Mai didn't look impressed, but conceded. "Fine, You can have your way. I'll bring you. And Miss Hawkins too, if she's going to get all huffy about it, which she will."

"Oooh, thank you, Miss Valentine! You wont regret it! I'm gonna go start packing right now!"

Mai Valentine rolled her eyes, after which she wandered over to the window of her beautiful apartment, to check out the view of the park.

A law office, London, England, 3 months later

"Jesus, Kura, how could you let this happen! We – I mean, _you_, were so damn close!"

"Calm yourself, my friend, it is not over yet. We still have time."

"Like Ra we do! Miss, sorry I mean, Mrs Wheeler is on her way right now! We weren't expecting this marriage for another year! We had time!"

Bakura looked out the window of his seventieth storey office. He frowned. "That, my friend, is because we weren't expecting her to marry someone who'd need her money."

"So, what will you do?"

"What do you think I'll do? The Normandie sails tomorrow. I'll be in Egypt by Wednesday."

Another law office, Domino City

"Are you sure about this?" Malik Ishtar looked up at his uncle.

"Of course I am! Now you get your ass on that ferry or I'll go for you!"

Malik looked disheartened. "No, Ra no, please don't do that. I'll be fine. I need to be sure of what to do, though."

"Just keep a damn lookout, boy! If you think he's doing anything shady, gimme a ring, all right? And try to make sure that girl doesn't sign anything while on this trip of hers. People let their guard down when their on their honeymoon, I've noticed. And that bozo husband of hers won't be much better. He may as well be a hillbilly."

"All right, uncle, I'll do my best."

"That's a good boy, Malik. Remember, your story is, you're a lawyer from Domino City."

"Er, I _am _a lawyer from Domino City."

"That's the spirit."

A small house in the suburbs of New York

"Are you ready, Joey?" Ishizu watched as her brother, Joey, lay on the couch refusing to move. "We have to be at the airport by one or we'll miss our flight."

"Oh, the hell we will. These things always turn up late, right?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Do we have to, Ishizu? I'd rather stay here to be honest. Work on my latest novel."

"Your what? Joey, you haven't written anything since you were 18 and that was four years ago."

"Ok, I get it." Said Joey, disheartened. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to have a little more faith in me, Ishizu. You may be some big time museum curator, or whatever it is you do, but I have talent. Real talent."

"Then use it, for goodness sake, instead of wasting your life here with your only friends, the TV, and Jack Daniels." Ishizu was getting irritated. "Now are you coming on holiday with me or shall I phone Odian?"

"No! Don't do that. I'll come." Joey pulled together a few things, shoved them in a plastic bag, and headed out the door with his older sister. "You have my passport, right?"

"Yes, Joey."

END OF CHAPTER TWO


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Gi Oh or the story Death on the Nile

Chapter Three

It was a bright sunny day at the hotel in Cairo, and Seto Kaiba was trying to relax in peace outside in the lounging area, but was being constantly distracted by his brother Mokuba, who seemed to want a different item of candy every five minutes. A distinctly immature fifteen year old. Also sitting outside was a man with blonde hair, tinted with black and purple, who was slightly tanned. Kaiba wondered who he was.

"Seto, can we go yet? This is boring!" Mokuba was unimpressed by the lack of fun facilities for a fifteen year old boy at the Makadi Bay Paradise Hotel.

"Calm down, Mokuba, the museum doesn't open for three hours. We're not going yet."

"But, Seto, if you think about it logically, if we get held up in the town centre, or if the boat leaves early, we might miss it."

"Yea, and if _you _think about it logically, if we leave now, we'll be two and a half hours early, Mokuba. All we have to do is walk, what, half a mile maybe, probably less?"

"You know, Seto, you're being scarily relaxed. Maybe there's something in the water in this place."

"I am not relaxed!" snapped Kaiba. "I'm thinking about that business proposal, if you must know, and I'd rather not be disturbed!" Mokuba fell silent. Even though the proposal was long since done, he knew he wouldn't be able to get his brother's mind off it for months. Seto hated to lose any big commissions. But, Mokuba reasoned, at least he's only fired seven people this time.

"Well….all right then. I'll stop complaining. If you can think of something for me to do, that is."

"Fine." Said Kaiba. "I've got something for you to do. Go over and talk to that guy. I want to know who he is. I recognise him from somewhere. Maybe he's been in the papers or something."

Mokuba nodded and approached the man. He didn't want to interrupt because at the moment the man was talking to some girl who looked about Seto's age, which was 23. He wondered what they were talking about.

"Yes, I do recognise him, madam."

"Oh, good, so it's not just me, then. Oh, and by the way, it's miss." Yami nodded.

"My apologies, miss….."

"Ishizu. Just call me Ishizu. So do you live around here, Yami, did you say?"

"Yes, Yami, that's right. And no, I don't. But I've been to Egypt before."

"Oh, so you know the area, then?"

"Certainly do." Said Yami. "I've been here on, um…cases. Yes, that's right, cases."

"Cases? What are you, a detective?" Ishizu laughed.

"Sure am." Replied Yami.

"Oh. I didn't realize. Are you here on a case right now? Is it about that shifty guy over there? The one who looks like he's famous. Or at least well known."

"No, no. I'm not here on business, Miss Ishizu. I'm on vacation. And you are right, I do know who that is. He's the president of a company in America. Fairly well known on reputation, but hardly anyone knows what he looks like, he almost never steps out of the office, from what I've heard."

"Hmmm. I wonder what he's doing here."

"Perhaps he's trying to relax, much like I am."

"Maybe. Look, Mr…Yami, I'm sorry, but I have to go now. My brother will, I'm sure, be getting up to no good, and I need to make sure he's OK. I'll see you on the Karnak trip, wont I?"

"Of course, Miss Ishizu. Until tomorrow, then!"

"Yes. Goodbye." She strolled off.

Yami was thinking about the strange girl he had just met, and about her seemingly different personalities. To Yami's mind, she had become much colder when she had remembered her brother. Yami wondered what kind of man he was. But there wasn't much time for more wondering, as he found himself approached by a young man.

"Hi. Are you coming on the Karnak trip tomorrow?" asked the stranger.

"Yes, I am. What's your name, young man?"

"Oh, it's Mokuba. Mokuba Kaiba."

"Kaiba? Yes, that's the one."

"Huh? What one?"

"Is that your brother over there, Mokuba?"

"Yeah, that's Seto, all right. Trying to relax. I didn't know he was physically capable of that, but he's making the best of a vacation, I suppose."

"And let me guess, he asked you to come over here to find out who I was, is that right?"

"Yeah, that's right. How did you know?"

"Oh, I can tell, Mokuba. It's part of what makes me such a good detective."

"You're a detective? Wow, that's so cool!"

Seto Kaiba glanced over at his brother, who was still conversing with the stranger. He wondered what could be taking so long. But then he shrugged, and turned back to his paper. After five more minutes, Mokuba came running back to him, excited.

"Guess what, Seto? That guy's a detective, isn't that cool?"

"A detective? Are you kidding me? What kind of a detective?"

"The good kind. He knew straight away that you had told me to come over here and ask about him. His name's Yami."

"Yami?" Kaiba's face turned even paler than it normally was. "I've heard of him. Supposedly he's some sort of genius. There isn't a mystery anywhere that he can't solve."

"Well, if there's anything mysterious about us, Seto, he'll find out straight away! I invited him to sit at our table when we get on the Karnak."

"You did what? Mokuba, how could you! There's secrets about our family I don't want coming out!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll leave us alone. We haven't committed any crimes, right?"

"I don't know, Mokuba, I haven't exactly been scrupulous to get where I am today. What were you thinking?"

"Maybe I was thinking this poor guy doesn't know anyone on the Karnak trip, he's coming on vacation alone, so maybe we should be nice to him and offer him some company."

Kaiba gritted his teeth. "Mokuba, a detective does not come on vacation alone unless he is not on vacation."

END OF CHAPTER THREE


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Gi Oh or the story Death On the Nile.

Chapter 4

Yami was wandering along the sands just outside the central area of the town, where the hotel was located. He had had enough of sunbathing, and had wanted to go for a walk. If anyone thought it was strange that he was still carrying his newspaper with him, then no one said so. But he had been intrigued by an article he was looking at just before he had left, about a strain of high society robberies in New York. He noticed that an inspector he was quite familiar with was working on the case. He knew that the inspector in question was very qualified, and Yami was certain that the thief or thieves, as he suspected, behind the robberies would be caught soon. There was even a picture of the prime suspect. It was a girl with long black hair, very pale skin, freckles, and piercing blue eyes. She looked rather innocent to Yami. He wondered if she had been tricked into her involvement. But he had no more time to muse about the girl, because he was shortly approached by a boy with blond hair, a goofy grin on his face, but bags underneath his eyes.

"Hey, mister! You going on the trip?"

"Yes, I am. What's your name?"

"Joey's the name. Never heard of me? I'm shocked."

"Should I have, Joey?"

"My sister's been going on about me to you, I hear. Not my fault she's talkative."

"Ah! I understand. You are Miss Ishizu's younger brother, am I right?"

"That's right." Said the boy, almost defensively. "So what did she say about me?"

Yami knew he should choose his words carefully. If Miss Ishizu would be going on the Karnak trip the next day, her brother almost certainly would, too. "Well. She said you were….an interesting brother to have around. She said she enjoyed your company."

Joey laughed. "That's the best you can do? Please."

"All right then. You have caught me out. She thinks you are troublesome."

"And you don't blame her, do you?"

"Joey, to be fair to me, I have only just met you."

"Yeah. Sorry. I've got a temper where Ishizu's concerned. She always thinks she knows what's best. I've been trying to get back on my feet as an author for a few years now, and - "

"You are an author? Very impressive at such a young age."

"Sure. I published when I was eighteen. But nothing since. I just haven't been that bothered. Screw college, screw jobs and all that, that's my opinion."

"And a very good attitude to have, if I may say."

"Sure. So how old are you, anyway?"

"Five - " Yami caught himself. He had been, of course, about to respond, "five thousand" but guessed that wouldn't be wise. He was trying to make it clear he was one of these people. "Twenty seven. I'm twenty seven."

Joey snorted. "You look older, man."

Yami thought to himself, "You don't know how right you are."

Later, back at the Makadi Bay Paradise Resort and Spa, Yami was attempting to relax before the boat trip that would take place tomorrow. He disliked cruises, and he would have preferred to stay at the hotel. But he couldn't do that. He had been promised by his policeman friend that he would be seeing someone he knew on the cruise, and he didn't want to let this person, whoever it was, down. He was sitting downstairs in the lounge, waiting for his drinks to arrive. He knew he shouldn't drink, but it was a weakness of his. Before he knew it, however, he had company in the form of Seto and Mokuba Kaiba.

"Afternoon." Said Seto. "Thirsty?" He commented snidely as the drinks arrived.

Yami gave a slight blush, but recovered himself quickly. "Well do you drink, Mr Kaiba?"

"Sure do."

"Then take this martini off my hands, would you?"

"Absolutely." Kaiba took the glass. They made small talk for a few minutes, before Yami noticed a girl entering the lounge. The girl had long, silky auburn hair and sparkling grey-blue eyes. She was wearing a white satin dress, expensive looking pearls around her neck, and on her arm she holding what seemed to be her boyfriend or even husband. He was shorter than her, had blonde hair, and was looking uncomfortable in a suit. Yami noticed him immediately.

"I know that man!" He got out of his seat and slowly edged towards the couple, careful to keep himself out of their line of sight. He wasn't ready to speak to them yet. But as it turned out, he didn't get the chance at all. Before he could approach them, someone else did. A girl Yami recognized too. This girl had shoulder length brown hair, blue-purple eyes, was wearing a familiar tatty red dress, but more than anything else, Yami noticed the look of pure hatred in her eyes as she shot towards the happy looking couple. Yes, Yami knew exactly who these two were. They were the seemingly so joyous and happy couple he had seen together at the restaurant just a matter of a couple of months ago. And now? The young man had his arm around someone else! Yami wondered what had happened between the young couple that had incited the young man who reminded Yami so much of himself to leave his bride to be and go off with this new girl. Yami reprimanded himself. He knew who the girl was. It was Serenity Wheeler, the rich girl from New York. Perhaps the allure of money had been too much for the man to resist, Yami thought. The angry girl approached the couple. She began to talk to them angrily, but Yami couldn't make out what she was saying. They both looked a mixture of apprehensive and exhausted. Yami suspected this wasn't the first time this had happened. After a few moments, the girl walked away. The couple looked at each other in terror. Yami moved closer to try and hear what they were saying.

"Oh, Yugi! What can we do?"

Later that evening, after dinner, Serenity Moto, Yugi Moto, and their trustee exited the hotel buffet hall and decided to go to bed.

"It's been quite a day, Yugi, honey. Maybe we should get some sleep."

"I think you're right. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. If we are going to fool that awful girl we'll need all the energy we can get. She's like a private detective. Always seems to know where we are. "

"Oh Yugi. She's still my best friend, even though what she's doing is wrong. But don't you understand, I did wrong to her too? Stole her husband, practically."

"Serenity, don't feel bad. Tea is troubled. I know you like her. I know part of me still loves her. But we're meant to be together, Serenity. I know that. I think you know that, too."

"I do, Yugi. You're so sweet. How is it you manage to make everything better with just your words?"

Yugi blushed. "Um, well, I don't know if I'm good at much else."

Serenity grinned wickedly. "We'll see. I'll be in the hotel room." She went up the elevator, leaving Yugi alone with Bakura.

"Early morning tomorrow, Mr Moto." He said.

"Yes, that's right." Agreed Yugi. He gave Bakura a suspicious look, but then sauntered upstairs.

Hotel Makadi Bay, 10:00pm 

Serenity Moto poked her new husband three times to check if he was still asleep. After confirming that he was, she got out of bed and carefully put her dress back on. She slipped on her expensive Prada shoes, and snuck out of the room. She knew the person she was looking for would still be awake, and she suspected where he would be. She was right.

"Mr Yami!" she cried, upon spying Yami on the stairs. "Mr Yami, come quickly!"

Yami stared at this apparition. "Miss Wheeler, what….?"

"First of all, it's Mrs Moto now, not Miss Wheeler. And second of all, there's something important I need to discuss with you. I know you're a detective, no point hiding it from me. I want you to take care of something for me, do you understand?"

Yami nodded. "Is this about Tea Gardner?"

She looked at him startled. "How did you know?"

"I have been talking with a Miss Rebecca Hawkins, a nice girl of about eighteen, I'd say, but far too intelligent for her own good, and practically incapable of keeping information to herself. She knew a lot about the three of you, and told me all she could."

"So I suppose you know, then, that Tea and Yugi were engaged, but then when he met me he fell in love straight away and broke it off with her. You know that?"

"Well…." Yugi began.

"What? What do you mean, well?"

"Well, Mrs Moto, I'll just say this. Have you ever read or heard the story of the poor man's ewe lamb?"

"The what? No, I don't read books. Unless it's ever been in Vogue or Cosmo, I have no idea."

"Well, there was a poor farmer who had one ewe lamb. He treasured it above all else. But one day, a very rich man who had many lambs, many cattle, and much money, decided he wanted the poor man's lamb, and so he took it. Do you understand the story?"

"Yes." She said. "You think I stole Tea's ewe lamb?"

"That's right. You say that Yugi fell in love with you straight away, but I think what happened was that you fell in love with him, and tried as hard as possible to make him fall for you, too. Am I right? Silly question, since I am always right."

"Fine. I admit it. But that doesn't change anything. That girl has been terrorizing our lives ever since we got married, Yami! Please, at least talk to her. I am sensitive, and I don't think there is much more I can take!"

"OK. I shall talk to your friend. Maybe I can convince her to give Yugi up."

Serenity's eyes were now filling with tears. "Please, Yami. I beg you, get rid of her!"

Yami nodded. He left Serenity Wheeler as fast as he could, regardless of the fact that she was still crying. He didn't like her much. He realized how much she had been suffering, but in a way she had brought it on herself. She struck Yami as more confident than she liked to pretend she was, a lot richer than would do her good, and rather stupid also.

It was five minutes later that Yami found Tea Gardner's room. She let him in, and invited him onto the balcony.

"So, why are you here then, Yami? Serenity Wheeler sent you, I suppose."

Yami wondered what he should say to this. "Well, while it is true that Mrs Moto asked me to talk to you, it is not because of her that I am here."

"Oh? And, pray tell, why are you here?"

"I am here to ask you to give up, Miss Gardner. Yugi Moto has moved on. I think it would be unwise to continue stalking him and his new wife. You should cut your losses, Tea! Move back to New York, and forget about Mr Moto. Is he really worth all this pain?"

"You don't understand, Yami. I'm not stupid. I know Serenity has her claws into Yugi. But he still loves me, I'm sure of that. I'm a liar, a cheat, lord knows what else, but I tell you the truth now. Yugi Moto still loves me. And I will have him back."

"All right, Tea. If you're sure."

"I am. You see, it's almost like when the sun rises. The moon has dominated the skies for the duration of night, but once the sun comes out, you can't see the moon anymore. You get me? But once the sun has gone down, and believe me, it will, the moon will rise again. You'll see."

She suddenly reached into her bag. " Do you know what this is, Yami?"

"It's a pistol, Tea. Um, I'm a detective."

"Well, did you know how much I'd love to put this pistol to precious Serenity's head and blast it away? A lot."

She suddenly jumped. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That noise? I thought, I thought someone was behind me, listening……"

"There's no one there, Tea."

"Hmmm. I must just be imagining things then." She sighed.

"I must go, Tea." Said Yami. "But let me just say this. Do not open your heart to evil, Tea. Let it flow with good."

Tea frowned. "How corny."

END OF CHAPTER 4

Sorry it was a bit long,…….


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh or the story Death On The Nile

Chapter 5 

Yami exited Tea Gardner's bedroom in a hurry, considering the two accounts he had heard that night, one from Serenity Moto and one from Tea Gardner. He thought they were both probably talking a load of crap, but he was inclined to believe Serenity, even though he didn't like her. He had, after all gotten her to admit that she had stolen Yugi. But he didn't believe Tea when she said that Yugi still loved her. It was quite clear he was completely infatuated with his new wife. He wondered if it would be best to discuss the situation with the last person who was involved. He found that he had instinctively been walking in the direction of Yugi Moto's hotel room anyway.

He knocked on the door, and after a couple of minutes, a tired looking Yugi Moto came to the door.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you, Mr Moto."

"Not at all. Serenity's not even here."

"Oh? Well, she must be wandering the hotel aimlessly then."

"Er, right. What is it, detective?"

"Well, I need to talk to you about Tea Gardner."

"Oh, I really wish she wasn't on this trip."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because she's been following us around ever since we got engaged."

"Think there might be a reason for that?"

"Well, I obviously hurt her feelings. And I feel bad about that. But everyone knows I'm not particularly bright, and I am a guy, and when I saw Serenity……..You know what I mean? It was almost like the sun rising. I couldn't see the moon anymore."

"Hmmm. Interesting that you should use that particular analogy."

"You what?"

"Never mind. Well, you don't have any romantic feelings for Tea Gardner anymore, do you, Mr Moto?"

"No, none whatsoever. I love Serenity."

"Well, I would advise you to try and lose Tea as soon as possible."

"We are. Tomorrow we are saying our plans are to go on a day trip, but really we're going on the Karnak cruise. She'll never find out. When we don't return, she'll have no way of finding us."

"A good idea, I think, Mr Moto. By the way, do you know that Tea Gardner carries a gun? A small, girlish one, but still pretty well lethal. She said how much she would like to shoot your wife."

"Not likely. She'd be more likely to come and get me. Though for a girl of her remarkable brain power, shooting me seems a bit banal. She'd be far more likely to come up with something like, oh, I don't know, turn me into a piece of furniture."

"Excuse me?"

"No matter. Anyway, thanks for coming to see me, Mr….Yami, it's made me feel a lot better about this whole thing. Oh, and since we'll be talking with our trustee tomorrow, I'm glad we wont have this on our minds. Money matters, you know."

"You are talking about Mr Bakura, yes?"

"Yes, that's right. He left New York on the Carmanic, I think. Got here a few days ago, and met us up in the city. Cairo, that is. You see, Serenity's not old enough for her trust fund to kick in, but now she's married, she's entitled to everything, so we're sorting that all out tomorrow."

"Right." Yami got up, and left the room. Yugi yawned and went back into bed.

Yami paced the corridors of the hotel for about half an hour, wondering about the three different accounts he had heard that night, and wondered which of them was the closest to the truth. At the moment, he considered that it was Yugi Moto's. Yami thought that as a man, he was less likely to take the thing so seriously, and probably wouldn't feel the need to lie. Not only that, but he suspected Yugi was too stupid to be able to lie effectively.

The next morning, Serenity Moto woke at seven o clock, ready for the day. She packed her bags quickly, and Yugi's, too, then woke her husband, and instructed him to meet her downstairs in five minutes. She hurried down the stairs, and prayed to all her gods that Tea wasn't already up. But thankfully, she was nowhere to be found. Twenty minutes later, Yugi arrived, and after being berated by Serenity, they snuck out of the hotel.

Meanwhile, Yami was just waking up, and at eight o clock he left the hotel. There was four hours before the Karnak trip left, so he decided to explore the area for a bit. At about nine thirty, he ran into someone he hadn't seen in the hotel before.

"Hello, are you waiting to see the museum too?" asked Yami of the spiky headed stranger.

"That's right" he replied in a gruff, irritated voice. "Who's asking?"

"My name is Yami, and I'm a private detective. What's your name?" Yami asked casually.

"Marik. Well, Yami Marik, actually, but you can call me Marik."

"Interesting." Yami nodded. When the museum opened, the two went round together. Yami learned that Marik was an archaeologist, and he was here in Egypt on a dig, but it was over, so he was taking the rest of the trip on a cruise.

"Yep, that's right, the Karnak thing. You going too?"

"I am. In fact, most of the people I have met so far in the hotel are going."

"Fascinating. Well, it's half ten now, what shall we do?"

Yami considered. "Well, I suppose we could head back to the hotel, get our things and set off."

At half past eleven, everyone began to convene at Tura, their departure point for the trip. Yami began talking with Mokuba Kaiba about his brother.

"He's just stupid about things sometimes. He's a bit obsessive. He won't stop thinking about that damn proposal. Well, I'm gonna have fun on this trip whether Seto's having a good time or not!"

"Probably a good attitude." Responded Yami, non commitally. What he was really paying attention to was a young man about twenty or so who seemed to be causing trouble amongst a few of the awaiting passengers. The guy had long maroon coloured hair, and was wearing a really unfashionable sweater vest type thing.

"Well, in my fine opinion, the pyramids are a complete waste of space" the guy was saying. He was getting angry looks from both Marik, and a rich looking thirty something woman, who Yami reckoned had more plastic in her than a barbie factory. Also looking on was a young girl who Yami recognized as Rebecca Hawkins, the eighteen year old prodigy who had supplied him with the information he wanted on Tea and Serenity. She seemed to be carrying the plastic woman's bags for her, while a black haired guy wearing a combination of red and black, and had a dice earring was brushing her hair.

"God, how do I get roped into these things?" he was saying to himself.

"Shut up and brush!" snapped the woman.

"Sorry, Miss Valentine."

"Oh." Yami understood now. The woman was Mai Valentine, a socialite from New York. He gulped. She was actually 28. If she found out he had thought of her as thirty something, he'd probably be dead before they left Tura.

The maroon haired guy continued in his vein of pyramid hating.

"All that toil. Slave labour. So much pain and for what? A big triangley thing. Whoop de do."

Marik seemed to be getting more and more incensed. "They're the greatest archaeological phenomenon of all time, you jackass."

"Oh, as if." The guy tossed his hair back and looked superior. "I just know they're not worth it, that's all."

Marik glared at him. "What the hell's wrong with you? Were your parents related before they were married?"

The guy shrugged. "I guess that would explain how my brother turned out. Who would voluntarily dye their hair pink?"

Marik looked exasperated and walked off.

Yami took the time before they left to look around at all the people who were going to be coming on the cruise. Could any of them be the person his detective friend had promised he would meet? Yami doubted it, by the look of the small crowd. He saw Serenity Moto and her husband, looking around anxiously. He saw Seto Kaiba and his younger brother. Mokuba was dancing around randomly. Seto was looking nervously in the paper. Yami wondered why. Yami saw the lovely Miss Ishizu and her troublesome brother, Joey. He saw the trustee, Bakura, skulking round the boat, flipping secretively through some papers. He saw Marik, the archaeologist, glaring daggers at the young maroon haired guy. He saw Mai Valentine, still with her entourage of Rebecca Hawkins and the Dice Boy, as Yami had christened him. He noticed someone new, a tall man with brown hair, wearing a long brown coat and simple clothing. He was talking to a young man who resembled Marik, except with better hair, and less mean looking. His clothes, however were much worse. Yami wondered if he shopped at Target. He also saw a black haired girl with an overload of make up and slutty maid's clothes on tagging round Yugi and Serenity. Yami wondered who all the new people were. He was sure he would get to know them in time.

"Come everyone! All aboard!" shouted the captain. Yami ominously boarded the boat. Something weird was going to happen on this trip. He knew it.

END OF CHAPTER 5

Sorry about the randomness……


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh or Death On The Nile. I may also have taken some quotes from my favourite movie, Serial Killer.

Chapter 6

Once everyone was aboard the Karnak, the captain informed them that they would be setting off in fifteen minutes. Everyone managed to find their rooms, and settled down. Yami looked around his own cabin. It was a little smaller than the accommodation he was used to, but he decided he would make do. After a while he got bored, and since he had only brought that day's paper with him, he couldn't be bothered to do any more reading. He didn't need to see the picture of the illustrious female thief any more. He knew her face off by heart.

So he left, and went out on to the front deck, where he ran into his new friend Ishizu.

"Miss Ishizu! Nice to see you! Are you having a good time?"

She shrugged. "I've had better. My brother, of course, is loving this. Says he can get new material for one of his books out of this lot of characters."

"And what a varied range of characters there are, Miss Ishizu."

"I suppose there are."

"I have noticed several conflicting personalities on this boat. I wonder how many of them will come into play in the events that will occur over the next few days?"

"You seem to know an awful lot, Yami."

"I don't pretend to be a fortune teller. But if I were, I'd predict a stormy couple of days." Ishizu nodded at this, and wandered off. Yami frowned after the girl. She was clearly troubled. She could go from cold and harsh to pleasant at a moment's notice. That brother of hers is to blame, Yami thought.

Meanwhile, Serenity Moto was wandering the boat, searching for her trustee. She wished to speak to him about the papers she had to fill out. But where was he? She finally found his cabin, and heard music coming from inside. She peeped in the door. He was flipping through a stack of papers, his back to her, and he was singing along to the music.

"_Rosemary, heaven restores you in life. Coming with me, through the aging the fearing the strife." _

Serenity giggled. Bakura had a nice singing voice, it was a pity he didn't indulge in karaoke more often. Unfortunately, he had heard her giggling.

"Hey! Mrs Moto!" he snapped.

"Hee hee." She said. "You're a good singer. And I like the choice of song, too. Very…….you."

"Shut up." He snarled. "I mean, sorry, Mrs Moto. I must just be…..what's the word? Embarrassed, right, that's it."

"Well, all right. What's happening with the papers?"

"Oh, we can sort that out tomorrow, Mrs Moto. For now all you need to do is _relax. _Take it easy. Enjoy your honeymoon."

She frowned. "OK. I can do that. Now that we're rid of Tea Gardner, anyhow."

She left his cabin, and heard him put the music back on. She noticed he had changed the song to public pervert.

She met her new husband outside the cabin they shared together. He was talking to a tall guy in a long brown coat.

"Oh hi, who's this?"

"Oh, Serenity, good, you're here. This is Tristan Taylor. Or, Dr Tristan Taylor, should I say." The brown coated man looked embarrassed.

"No, no. Just Dr Tristan is fine. Or Dr T, if you prefer."

Serenity looked at her husband. "Ok. Anyway, moving on, I had a chat with- oh god!"

"What? What is it?"

Serenity was looking angrier than Yugi had ever seen. She was practically hissing. "How? How did that_-_that _devil woman _get on this boat?"

"I got a ticket." Tea Gardner approached the three, a smug expression on her face. "I did a little digging. You think you can run from me, you couldn't be more wrong."

Serenity looked to be now on the verge of tears. She grabbed Yugi's arm and began to drag him away. "You-you leave us alone!" was all she could manage to get out.

After Serenity had left, Yugi in tow, and Dr Tristan had gone off after an uncomfortable silence, Tea was left on her own. The captain announced they would be setting off. He told the passengers that they would be at Minya by nightfall, and that in the morning they would visit Tuna el Gebel, an ancient site. Tea looked down at the Nile below her. How had she gotten herself this far? How had she let herself be dragged into this? She sniffed. _Better suck it up_, she thought. _I'm no weakling_. After a few minutes, she was joined by the man she had come to know as Yami.

"So" he said. "You opened your heart to evil."

"Yes." She replied almost complacently. "I opened my heart to evil. And now there's no getting rid of it."

"Tea. If you mean to shoot Mrs Moto, tell me right now. I want to help you, but I cant if you don't talk to me. Don't be a closed book, Tea."

She considered him for a few moments, then asked him something. "Yami? Why is it you refer to me as Tea, but call Serenity Mrs Moto?"

He seemed to redden. "I really can't answer that, Tea. I don't really have an answer."

"Well, there's nothing you can do now." She said.

He frowned. "Never underestimate me, Miss Gardner." With that, he left her.

A few minutes after he had left Tea alone, Yami ran into Serenity.

"Mrs Moto? I suppose you know that Tea Gardner is aboard this boat?"

"Yes. I don't know how she found us. She's got more brains that either Yugi or I."

"I don't know. I think you're sharper than you give yourself credit for, Serenity."

"Really?"

"I'm sure you're quite the business woman. Rich women have to be that way, or they'll be scammed every day of their life."

"I guess so….. But I could certainly never have pulled anything like this off. She's quite the showman."

Yami nodded silently.

"Yami? Can I share something with you?"

Yami said to himself, _I really wish you wouldn't. _"Sure."

"I'm…I'm really scared. Everybody here hates me. I know it. I have….I have enemies all around."

"Enemies all around?"

"Yes, that's what I said, and that's what I meant. I can sense it……"

"Er, right."

"I'm serious. I can just feel it. There's someone on this boat, Yami. Someone who hates me. And I don't mean Tea Gardner……."

She trailed off, then exited, leaving Yami to his very confused thoughts.

Later that day, after they had been on the boat for a couple of hours, the captain announced dinner. Malik Ishtar had been lying in his room for over two hours, doing nothing but thinking to himself. His uncle had hardly been cryptic when he had told Malik of his task. But Malik wasn't very sure as to how to go about it. He knew he needed to talk to Serenity Moto before she did anything to with signing of papers, but how he was going to accomplish this, he didn't know.

Yami got up and set off for the dining hall. When he arrived, he was waved over by Mokuba Kaiba, who was sitting next to a very grumpy looking Seto.

"Evening, Yami!" said Mokuba cheerily. "What's been going on, then? I hear there's some sort of feud on this boat."

"Who told you that?"

"Rebecca Hawkins. She knows everything about the people here. Seems to, anyway."

"Well, we needn't talk about it over dinner, Mokuba. Seto, how's things?"

"Fine." Grumbled Seto.

"Are you in a bad mood?"

"No more so than usual!" chipped in Mokuba. Seto gave him the evils.

"You know what might be fun?" asked Mokuba. "We should try to guess who everyone here is. There's not that many people, it should be fun. I have a room list here."

Mokuba procured his rooming list. There were five cabins on the top deck, five on the middle deck, near the observation saloon, and five on the lower deck. So, Mr Yami, cabin number one, lower deck, that's you. Malik Ishtar, cabin two, lower deck, who's that? It might be that guy over there with the blonde hair. God awful clothes. Yes, that could be him. Anyway. Leon Wilson, cabin three, lower deck. I've no idea. Could be anyone. Ishizu Wheeler, hey that's a coincidence, I wonder if she's any relation to Serenity. Anyway, cabin four, lower deck. And her brother, cabin five. That's them over there." Mokuba pointed them out. The conversation continued in a similar vein for the next five minutes or so. Eventually Yami got the full picture of where everyone was sleeping. It was as follows:

Lower deck

Cabin 1: Yami

Cabin 2: Malik

Cabin 3: Leon Wilson

Cabin 4: Ishizu Wheeler

Cabin 5: Joey Wheeler

Middle deck 

Cabin 6: Vivian Wong

Cabin 7: Duke Devlin and Rebecca Hawkins

Cabin 8: Tea Gardner

Cabin 9: Dr Tristan Taylor 

Cabin 10: Ryan Bradley

Upper deck 

Cabin 11: Serenity and Yugi Moto

Cabin 12: Bakura

Cabin 13: Mai Valentine

Cabin 14: Seto and Mokuba Kaiba

Cabin 15: Marik

"Who are some of these people?" mused Mokuba. "For instance, I've never heard of a Ryan Bradley. Where is this mysterious person? He certainly hasn't shown up as far as I'm aware."

Yami thought to himself. It could be conceivable, he thought, that this Mr Bradley was in fact an alias, and the person was in fact the one his cop friend had promised he would meet.

After dinner that night, Mai, Joey, Serenity, Yugi, Kaiba, Mokuba, Dr T, Malik, Tea and Ishizu proceeded to go into the observation saloon for a some peace and quiet before sleep. They would be stopping overnight at Minya in a few minutes, anyway.

Yami didn't feel like making small talk with Mokuba Kaiba, so he went out on to the front deck. There he found Seto Kaiba staring out on to the Nile.

"Evening, Seto."

"Oh, it's you."

"What are you doing out here, Seto? Praying to Ra? I do it too."

Seto laughed. "No, I'm not - " He cut himself off. "I mean, I am religious. Yes, sorry I got confused. But I'm a Christian. Catholic, in fact."

"Oh. You don't seem very much like a believer."

"Er, well I am. Yep. Gotta love, er, church."

Yami shook his head silently and left Seto Kaiba. He wondered if Mr Kaiba had always been such a bad liar.

END OF CHAPTER

Someone is going to die soon, I promise!

By the way, the song Bakura was listening is Evil by Interpol. I just thought it went well with his personality. Plus it's the song I was listening to when I wrote this.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Gi Oh or the story Death On The Nile

Chapter 7

It was the next day. They were woken early by the captain, who informed them that in half an hour, they would be getting out of the boat, and visiting a temple at Tuna el Gebel.

Yami, along with the rest of the party, got off, and went into the temple. As they were walking round, Yami ended up talking to Rebecca Hawkins, the eighteen year old genius who had been telling everyone she could find the information she had acquired on the rest of the passengers.

"You know, she's really not all that bad." The girl began, on the subject of her employer, Mai Valentine. "She's just very very shallow. But she cant help it, it's the way she was brought up. A bit spoilt, of course, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I've known her my entire life. That awful guy was being so cruel to her. Saying it was women like her who made society the "materialistic wasteland" it is."

"But you don't think so?" mused Yami, interested in Rebecca's take on society.

"I think there's nothing wrong with being rich. I'd certainly love to be. I just think I'm the only one on this boat honest enough to admit it. I'll never understand why people feel the need to _pretend._ It's really stupid."

"I agree with you." Said Yami. "People shouldn't be judged on how wealthy they are."

"Precisely! And that means not being cruel to Miss Valentine just because she's rich."

"Mmm." Said Yami. He was becoming slightly distracted by Ishizu.

"Oh, you like Ishizu. That girl is pretty. So cold though, I've really no idea why. I spoke to her earlier, and she was quite short with me. I was just trying to be nice."

"I've no doubt." Said Yami. "But the girl has a harder life than we probably give her credit for."

"What do you mean?"

Yami smiled, happy in the knowledge that there was something that Rebecca didn't know. "Never mind. But I'm sure it's something to do with her brother, Joey. And what's your take on Serenity Moto?"

"Oh, she's lovely. Really beautiful. And she's so sweet, too. Very nice girl. And such an excellent businesswoman, though some might not think it from looking at her."

"Yes, I think you're right. You're an excellent judge of character, Miss Hawkins."

"Thank you. Oooh!" She had spotted Dr Tristan. "Doctor! It's me!" she squeaked, and ran over to him. Yami saw that for the remainder of the tour around the temple, she stayed by him, listening raptly to every word he said. She was clearly fascinated by Egypt and what the doctor knew about it. Yami smiled to himself. Rebecca was like no woman he had ever met before.

They returned to the boat, and set off again, passing El Amarna, and coming up on Assiut. In the observation saloon, were Malik Ishtar, the blond tanned young man, Yami, and in the corner, Yugi and Serenity with their trustee, Bakura.

"Now, really, no need to even look over that one, all simple, legal phraseology, stuff you might not even understand."

"Quiet, Mr Bakura, I'm reading." Serenity was reading in detail the document which Bakura had handed her.

"Well, if there's anything you don't understand…"

"Not at all, I understand it all perfectly."

"Oh. Well, take your time with it then."

Malik seemed interested in what they were doing, and approached them. "Well, hello, Mrs Moto, I couldn't help but overhear. I see your looking at legal documents."

"Yes, she is. I private, if you don't mind." Snapped Bakura.

"She's so good." Spoke up Yugi. "I never, ever, read anything I'm told to sign. What could really be wrong, after all? If someone advises me to sign on the dotted line, I'll do it, no questions asked!" he laughed.

"Well." Said Malik. "I have to say, I admire your business sense, Serenity. I'd never sign a document unless I'd read it through properly, and I'd advise you to keep doing the same."

Bakura looked angry. "Will that be all?"

"Er, yes, that's it." He walked away.

"Mr and Mrs Moto, I am sorry for that rude interruption. Look, you're in no mood to be signing things. Lets….Lets leave it until later, why don't we?" Bakura gathered up the papers, and quickly made his exit, glaring daggers at Malik on his way out. "Assclown." He muttered under his breath.

At this point, Mai Valentine, with Rebecca and Duke in tow, entered the room. She was closely followed by Leon Wilson, the arrogant anti-corporationist with the maroon hair. He sneered at her. Yami approached him.

"I take it you are not fond of Miss Valentine."

"That lady's a bitch. She's got no sense of social responsibility."

"She would probably say the same about you."

"She treat the working classes like lepers, for god sake. It's the twenty first century, and this one's still acting like it's the 1800's. Around the time when she was born."

Yami suppressed a laugh. "Don't let her hear you say that, Leon. She's under thirty. Though I made the unfortunate mistake of thinking she was actually on the wrong side of 30 when I first saw her."

"Well, she doesn't look all that young, considering all the plastic surgery she's had."

Yami nodded. He glanced over at the party of three. Mai was instructing Rebecca to fetch her some tea. Duke was giving her a manicure.

Later that day, when the party had arrived at Assiut, they stopped for the night. At ten o clock, the only people still in the observation saloon were Yami, Yugi, Mai, Serenity, her maid, Vivian, and Dr Tristan and Rebecca. Dr Tristan was telling Rebecca about his last visit to Egypt, and she sat listening, enthralled.

In the morning, they went to another temple, this time in Badari. Yami explored the temple in the company of Seto and Mokuba Kaiba. Yami paid little attention, even though he really felt bad for not being thrilled by what he was seeing. After all, these exhibits were from his own time. But he couldn't help but be distracted by the tension in the air. As a detective, he had been trained to pick up on things like that, and he could sense it all around.

He noticed two people who didn't seem to be feeling this tension. Serenity and Yugi Moto were leaning against a wall outside the temple, chatting cordially. Serenity in particular seemed to have lost her nervousness and annoyance at the presence of Tea.

"Good morning, Mr and Mrs Moto. Sleep well?"

"Certainly better than I have for a couple of nights." Laughed Serenity.

"Any reason?"

"No, not particularly. Except I've just decided to start ignoring Tea and her following us around all the time. It's just really quite pathetic. We are going to enjoy the rest of our honeymoon, whether she's there or not."

"Good idea, Mrs Moto."

Yami walked away. He was glad that Serenity was no longer being bothered by Tea Gardner, but at the same time, he had a sinister sense of foreboding that this wasn't the end. And he was right. Not ten seconds after he had left the two, he heard a scream, followed by a crash. He turned his head sharply to see a boulder where Yugi and Serenity had been standing. Mokuba came running.

"Did you see that? If she'd been there another half a second, she'd have been crushed!"

"What?"

"Someone must have pushed it. Don't you think, Yami?"

He nodded. "Yes. I agree with you, Mokuba. Someone must have."

END OF CHAPTER SEVEN

In the next chapter, Ryou shows up. So make sure to read!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu gi oh or death on the nile

Chapter eight

It was lunchtime. The party was in the dining saloon, eating their meal. They were all enjoying the prospect of being at Karnak for the evening. Their plan was to visit it, and then, stay the night. The next morning they would set off on the long journey back.

"Mokuba." Said Yami.

"Yeah?"

"Who do you think pushed the boulder on Serenity? I mean, tried to?"

"Don't know. I suppose it would make sense if it were Tea Gardner, but she was on the boat at the time. She literally could not have done it."

"Because a lot of the people I've asked thought that it was her trustee, Bakura."

"Mr Bakura? Seto's friend?"

"Your brother knows Mr Bakura?"

"No, they met on the trip. They've just seemed rather chummy. Seemed like they had a lot to talk about. Maybe they've got a few things in common."

"Yes, Mokuba." Nodded Yami. "I think they have."

Yami moved on. He didn't know who had tried to kill Serenity. But he was going to find out. This person wanted Serenity Moto dead, and Yami had a bad feeling they weren't going to stop at boulder rolling.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the dining saloon, Ishizu was talking to Kaiba.

"I mean, he has been very nice to me. He's such a sweet boy. He talks about you all the time, you know. Almost seems like he's trying to advertise you, or something!" laughed Ishizu.

"Oh really. I must tell him to stop doing that, it's God damn annoying."

"No, I think it's sweet. He obviously looks up to you. I think your brother's really great."

Kaiba nodded warily. He wished he could say the same about her brother, but unfortunately, Joey was not the sort of person he wished to associate with and he felt sure Ishizu felt the same.

"Letters, everyone." The captain came in with the letters. Serenity squealed.

"Ooh, look, Yugi. It says Moto. It must be for me!" she dived for the letter, and opened it, but failed to understand what it was on about. "What does it mean , Yugi? It says things about vegetables, and-"

"Hey!" it was Yami Marik. "That letter is for me, not for you!" he snatched the letter out of Serenity's grasp.

"Well, that was a little rude. He could have said please."

"You could have said sorry."

Serenity looked at her husband with a pained look in her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to come out like that, Serenity. After all, Marik does look a little like Moto."

Serenity nodded. "Very well. I think I'll go take a shower."

Yami, after having witnessed this display, exited out to the balcony.

"Well, Yami. I'd never have guessed it was going to be you I'd be meeting here."

Yami turned his head sharply. It was a young man of around the same height as him, with shoulder length fluffy white hair. He was smiling weakly. His shiny brown eyes were glistening with what seemed to be excitement. His pale white skin was glowing with a tinge of pink.

"Oh my goodness…..Ryou?"

"In the flesh."

"But…how? Your name wasn't on the guest list."

"Wasn't it? I'm Ryan Bradley."

"Oh! I should have guessed, Ryou Bakura!"

"Well, here I am."

"Did my old friend in the NYPD send you down?"

"That's right. There's supposedly a dangerous criminal on this boat and I'm here to find out who it is. I didn't even know you were going to be on this boat!"

"I was told someone I knew would be here. That was my main incentive for coming, to be honest, but I'm glad I did. There's been an attempted murder."

"Oh, really?"

"There's a girl on this boat, Ryou, who married the ex fiance of one of the other passengers. In fact, she practically stole her best friend's husband to be."

"And I suppose this girl is the one who was nearly killed?"

"That's right. But The thing is, this other girl can have had nothing to do with it."

"Anyone else who had it in for Serenity Wheeler?"

"Well – wait, how did you know it was Serenity?"

"I am a detective, Yami, and I've been on the boat the same amount of time as you. I just had to talk to one young girl to get the whole story."

"Rebecca Hawkins?"

"Yep. She told me everything. So do you think anyone can have had motive to try and kill her?"

"There's something dodgy about her trustee, Mr Bakura."

"Mr Bakura?"

"Yes. Perhaps he's a distant cousin of yours, the two of you do look awfully similar."

"Perhaps. So you think he might have……..?"

"I don't know what to think. Not that it matters yet. She's not dead."

"Yet?"

"I just can't help thinking she might not be as safe as she thinks she is."

END OF CHAPTER 8

Sorry about the short chapter, I promise the next one will be longer, and involve Serenity getting killed………


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own yu gi oh

Chapter nine

By the afternoon, they had arrived at Karnak. They were leaving the boat to visit the temple. The next morning, they would leave for the journey back. The distance between Karnak and Badari was the longest they would have to make without a break. In fact they would have no way of contacting civilization for almost two days. The party stepped off the boat, and made to explore the temple and the surrounding area. They had hours before they had to return, so everyone made the most of the excursion. Especially Rebecca, who barely left Dr Tristan's side. Leon Wilson approached Yami.

"What do you think of that doctor, Yami?"

"Dr Tristan? I'm sure he's very skilled."

"He's an utter moron, if you ask me."

"Well, I didn't."

"I wonder why Rebecca's so interested in Egypt."

"Do you really think that's what she's interested in?"

Leon narrowed his eyes at Yami. "As a matter of fact, I do. Not that it's any of your business, but I'm going to ask Rebecca out."

"What? You must be joking!"

"Why should I be?"

"Because you insult her family and friends, you mock her employer for being rich, you-"

"Hey, that's not fair. She treats me like dirt. Besides, she'd never let her precious Rebecca date someone like me."

"So……."

"So, that'll probably be extra incentive for Rebecca to say yes."

Yami frowned. "Rebecca will never agree to go out with you. And not just because she's supposedly above you. But because she'll only ever date someone nice."

Leon grinned. "We'll see. Anyway, let's change the subject. Oh, god, look, it's that Serenity girl."

"Resent her too?"

"She ought to be shot. It's people like her who are a complete waste of space. What exactly does she do?"

"Well-"

"Well, nothing. I'd kill her myself if I thought I'd survive a day in prison."

"Hmm. Interesting the number of enemies Serenity Moto really does have." Yami did not wait for Leon to reply to this, but instead walked over to Ishizu, who was far more pleasant company, since her brother was nowhere to be found.

"Ishizu!"

"Oh, hello, Yami. Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Far more now."

"Well, I'm not. Joey's gone somewhere, God knows where. I hope he's not doing anything troublesome."

"I'm sure he is fine, Ishizu. So, where's Kaiba?"

"Kaiba?"

"Seto Kaiba? You two seem to be friendly, that's all."

"Well, we're not particularly. Besides, he's got a girlfriend back home, I heard Mokuba talking about her. Some ridiculous name, she's got. Like a mermaid."

For some reason, this struck a chord with Yami. He couldn't think why. A flashback of the day he was at the Makadi Bay hotel came back to him. He was reading the newspaper. Something about that female jewel thief……

"Anyway, I'd better go back to the boat. Joey's probably up to no good, and I'd rather check up on him that stay out here." She strutted off.

"Good to know." Muttered Yami.

Later that evening, the party, well some of them, were sitting in the observation saloon. Serenity, Yugi, Bakura, and Ryou were playing cards. Malik was reading. Yami stayed for a few minutes, but decided he was unnaturally tired, and left for bed. Rebecca was searching the saloon for Mai's velvet scarf, which she had misplaced earlier in the evening.

After about twenty minutes of futile searching, Rebecca gave up and sat next to Tea. They began to talk, but it soon became apparent to Rebecca that Tea was slightly drunk.

"Listen, Tea, I might go-"

"No! You can stay here! I want to tell you all about me. A little history lesson for ya."

She had raised her voice. Bakura and Ryou, sensing that a scene was about to ensue, left swiftly. Serenity followed them, but not before barking at Yugi that he was to be upstairs in no less than ten minutes.

"Look, Tea," began Yugi. "You're a little tipsy, and I think you'd better put that Martini down. OK?"

"Who the hell are you," she started angrily, "to tell me what to do?"

Rebecca looked frightened. "Can I please go?"

"I don't think so!" she snapped. "Listen, Yugi, the way you treated me was unacceptable. I gave you _everything, _and you just threw it back in my face. Well, get a load of this!"

She pulled out what looked a lot like a small gun. In fact, it was, indeed, a small gun.

"Tea! Don't do anything rash, now-"

"Shut up!" she cried. "You are an idiot! And now I'm-I'm going to _kill _you!"

She shot. But thankfully, it did not hit him straight in the heart, or, more gratefully, the head. Instead, the red blood began to emanate from his leg.

"Aaah!" he cried in agony, as he fell down on to the nearest chair.

"Oh, god, I've killed him!" gasped Tea. "I've killed him!"

"Calm down, Tea, you haven't killed him." Said the soothing voice of Rebecca. "Now, we have to get help. Malik, go and get Dr Tristan."

"Get-get her out of here!" shouted Yugi. "Take her somewhere where she won't hurt herself. Or anyone else," he muttered acidly.

Rebecca nodded in acquiescence. She grasped Tea firmly by the arm, and led her out of the room like a lost sheep, back to her cabin.

Malik accompanied Rebecca to Tea's cabin, where Rebecca remained. Malik went to fetch Dr Tristan from slumber, and five minutes later, was back at the observation saloon, where Yugi was still crying in pain. He took him to his cabin, where he set him up for the night with a painkiller.

"This is bad news, Mr Ishtar. We've set off again. We'll have no way of getting him to a hospital of any sort for at least 24 hours."

"Oh God. He is going to survive, isn't he?"

"Almost certainly. But if the wound gets infected, septicemia, it's always a possibility."

"That's not good."

"Not at all. But try to get some sleep, Mr Ishtar. This has been traumatic for everyone. How-how is Miss Hawkins?"

"She seems very capable."

"Good, good. Is she with Miss Gardner?"

"No, actually, that Devlin boy has taken over. He's been attending the god-awful Valentine woman for months, he knows what he's doing."

"Good. Well, get some rest, Ishtar. See you in the morning. Nothing more to be done here. Wait, actually, no. Go and fetch the gun."

"Gun?"

"The gun that Gardner used to shoot Moto. You saw where it went, didn't you? Surely it's still there?"

"Of course it is. I'll go and get it right now." Malik left the room, and after five or six minutes, returned empty handed.

"Well? Where is it?"

"It wasn't there, Dr Taylor."

"Not there? Then where the hell is it? Has someone taken it?"

"Well, if they have, it would have had to have after we brought Yugi here."

"So in the five minutes between when we brought Yugi out, and when I went back to get it, someone took it?"

"Looks like it. But the question is, why?"

The next morning, Yami awoke early, or so he thought, and decided to stretch his legs. He went out on to the front balcony, to overlook the endless blue waters of the Nile. He felt at peace. He was very glad he had come on the this trip. It was a nice way to get away from all the cases he had to work on. Suddenly, he noticed Ryou running towards him.

"Thank God you're up! I've been trying to wake you for hours!"

"Hours?"

"It's half past ten, Yami, what happened?"

"I-I don't know."

"Well, make up for it with your awesome brain power."

"What are you talking about, Ryou?"

"Last night Serenity Wheeler was murdered in her sleep, Yami!"

Suddenly he was even more glad he had come on the trip.

END OF CHAPTER NINE

Please review!


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Gi Oh

Chapter ten 

"Oh, please tell me that's not true." Yami looked at Ryou in almost despair. "Murdered?"

"That's right. So you think our little Miss Gardner was busy last night?"

"I don't want to think it, Ryou. I don't want to believe that Tea murdered Serenity, but, unfortunately, I don't really have any choice but to think that. Who else can have had sufficient motive for her death?"

"Oh, I don't know. Perhaps her husband wanted to make off with her money."

"I'm afraid that's not possible, gentlemen." It was Dr Tristan, who had overheard the men talking and stepped out. "I suppose the two of you haven't heard about the scene last night?"

"Scene? What scene? Surely nothing can have happened, other than Serenity's murder?"

"On the contrary. Last night there was a little drama in the observation saloon after you left."

"Well, come on, man, what happened?"

"Tea Gardner shot Mr Moto through the leg. She was carried off to her room and remained there all night. Yugi Moto could not possibly have moved, I can attest to that. He simply could not have walked. I have found the bullet in his leg, and the wound is quite severe."

"He'll survive, though, won't he?"

"Oh, yes. But we need to get him to a hospital and our safest bet is the one back in Assiut, and it'll take about a day to get there."

"Well, we need to talk to him. I assume he has been informed of the tragedy?"

"Of course. He is genuinely quite distraught. He obviously loved her very much."

"Well, then, perhaps we'll leave it a while. When he is in better condition to talk we'll speak with him. Meanwhile, there was someone present in the observation saloon last night that is going to be my eyes and ears. Come on, Ryou, we're going to talk to Rebecca Hawkins."

They visited Rebecca in her cabin. She, unlike Yugi Moto, did not seem in the least bit distraught by the tragedy. She seemed vibrant and energetic. Yami wondered what it must be like to be able to be enthusiastic, even when a person has been killed.

"Morning, Yami! It's a nice day, isn't it? I really hope we'll be seeing something good today."

"Rebecca, you have heard, right? About Serenity?"

"That she was killed? Yes, I did. It's really sad, I think. She was lovely. So pretty. And she was kind to me, too. It's so sad when someone as good as her is murdered, but life goes on, I always say."

"Well, I'd just like your version of events last night."

Yami was interrupted when the two of them were joined by Malik Ishtar, who entered the cabin after having knocked.

"Sorry, you two. But I was told you were in here, and I wondered if I could be of any help."

"Absolutely, Mr Ishtar, sit down. I'd like to hear from both of you. You were both in the saloon at the time of the shooting, and I want to know what you saw and heard."

"Well." Began Rebecca. "Tea was obviously drunk, I don't mean to be harsh but there it is. She was talking some nonsense about how Yugi had treated her badly, and then she started ranting, Yugi tried to calm her down, and she got out her little pea shooter, and shot him in the leg. He fell onto the chair, and me and Malik walked Tea to her bedroom. Yugi was alone, but lying on the chair, unable to move. The gun was underneath a chair on the other side of the room. Malik returned to carry him to Dr Tristan's room, where he remains."

"And what time was all this?"

"It was twenty five past twelve when I returned to my cabin, so it must have been about quarter past when Tea shot him. I must have returned to get the gun at twenty past, or thereabouts." Said Malik.

"But the gun was not there?"

"That's right."

"Now this is very important. Did any of the people in the saloon leave at all after Serenity had gone to bed?"

"Serenity, Bakura, and Ryou all went at the same time, I think. That was about twenty past eleven. No one left after that, until the shooting."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Replied Rebecca.

"Oh, and by the way," cut in Malik. "I spoke to Dr Tristan, and he puts the time of death as definitely between twelve and two."

"Right. Thank you for this, both of you. One final thing. Did either of you hear anything after you had gone to bed?"

Rebecca shook her head, but Malik replied: "I heard a splash, I think it was."

"A splash? What time was this?"

"No idea. I was just beginning to drift off to sleep. I suppose it was around one."

"OK, thank you. We'll go and see Dr Tristan and his patient now."

They entered Dr Tristan's cabin, to find him talking with Yugi Moto, who was incapacitated on the bed.

"Hello, you two. What have you found out?"

"Plenty." Replied Yami. "I gather it was completely impossible for either Tea or Yugi to have done it?"

"Completely. Miss Gardner was in her room right away, and Mr Devlin stayed with her all night. Mr Moto was shot, he couldn't possible have moved, besides which, I was here all night."

"We'd like you to take us to Serenity's cabin, if you would?"

"Sure."

They followed him to the cabin. Serenity was lying dead on the bed, with a bullet hole through the side of her head. Around the hole were burn marks.

"Close range." Noted Ryou.

On the wall was the letter T. "How crude." Commented Yami. "Whoever murdered Serenity is obviously trying to implicate Tea, but unfortunately for them, they did not know that she could have had nothing to do with it."

"Yes, but what exactly was she shot with?" asked Ryou.

Here Dr Tristan chipped in. "It was a small thing, definitely. Not one of those big revolvers you get. Probably wouldn't even have made any noise. Well, not much."

"So is there a possibility that the same gun could have been used to shoot Yugi?"

"Absolutely."

"Then why was it taken away?"

"huh?"

"Well, the murderer's idea is clearly to indicate Tea Gardner, so why was her gun not left at the scene?"

"Good point."

END OF CHAPTER TEN

Please read and review, nice people.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Don town yu gi oh or death on the nile Chapter 11 

Yami and Ryou finished their search of the bedroom in which Serenity was murdered. Yami found no evidence of anything other than the dead girl. He picked up tow bottles of nail polish, and casually commented on the fact that the bottles were labelled wrong.

"This is red." He muttered. "I wonder why it says pink on the bottle……"

He shrugged to himself and he and Ryou departed to question the other passengers. But one thing was still bothering him.

"Ryou, why do you think no one we have asked so far has heard the shot which killed Serenity?"

He looked puzzled. "I don't know, Yami. I suppose a silencer?"

"No. Not on a small gun. You only get those for higher caliber weapons."

"Oh. Well, I guess it could have been wrapped in something, to deaden the niose of the shot."

Yami nodded. But he couldn't get the idea out of his head that something was wrong with this picture. Something to do with the bullet wound in Serenity's head……

They started to question the people on the boat in connection with the death. First up was the person who discovered the crime, Serenity's maid Vivian. They had to question her in the doctor's room, he was working and Yugi was lying on the bed.

She was very unhelpful, or so Ryou thought, at least. She told them she had seen nothing.

"If I had been unable to sleep, of course, I would have come to her cabin, to see if she was OK, and I might well have seen this person. But, ah well." She replied cryptically.

Ryou and Yami exchanged glances.

They were about to proceed with the next line of questioning, when Tea came into the room, clearly distraught, profusely apologizing to Yugi and pleading forgiveness. She swore she had nothing to do with the death of his wife, and in hysterics. Yami calmed her down, and asked her who she thought might have done it. But of course, she had no idea.

"I don't know! No one wanted her dead. Excpet me, that is."

"Don't worry, Tea. We have proven beyond all doubt that you could not have committed this crime. So you're off the hook." Ryou said comfortingly.

Once Tea was appeased, they went back to talking to Vivian. She told them a rather interesting story about some of Serenity's enemies.

"Yes, the maid before me, her name was Mary, she wanted to marry this guy, but Serenity talked her out of it. Apparently he was already married. Sicko." She told them.

"And he is present on this boat, is he?" they asked.

"Yes, he's an engineer named Alister." She replied smugly.

"Thank you Miss Wong, you've been very helpful." They bid her goodbye, and she left the cabin.

"Well, that was quite a useful piece of information." Remarked Yami. "We can question this guy later."

"Meanwhile, what did you think of her?" asked Ryou. "She could be maing it all up, and be the murderer herslef."

Yami frowned. "With what motive?"

"Robbery, presumably. After her pearls!"

"That's a good point, actually. I don't remember seeing the pearls at all when we searched the crime scene."

Ryou and Yami instantly got back up and returned to Serenity's room. After much meticulous searching, they established that the necklace was indeed not there.

"So now robbery is a very tangible motive." Remarked Ryou. "Of course, it might be a coincidence that there is a thief and a murderer on the same boat, but we cant rule out the possibility that they are one and the same person."

Yami nodded. They continued with their questioning, first to Alister. He vehemently denied having anything to do with it, and refused to talk to them further. The Kaibas next. Mokuba was very cooperative, stating what time he went to bed. He also told them about how heard a splash and someone running. Kaiba told them the same, but was much less cooperative in the matter.

Mai Valentine, too was extremely annoyed at the idea of being questioned.

"I don't see how this has anything to do with me." She snapped.

"Well, we just wanted to know if you heard or saw anything." They asked.

"No." she responded coldly. "Wait. Yes, actually. That girl, Ishizu. She was out on the deck at ten past one, throwing something into the river. I went out to see her."

"Are you sure it was her?"

"Yes, I saw her face."

"Did she see you?"

"No."

"And are you positive of the time?"

"Yes." She said irritably. "I looked at my clock. I wanted to know why someone was outside and what ungodly hour it was."

The uncomfortable conversation was cut short when two of the men who worked on the boat came in.

"Um, sirs. This was found by one of the men. It was in the water, a few miles back, sirs."

They took the parcel from the men. It was a velvet scarf.

"My scarf!" exclaimed Mai, as Yami began to unfurl the package.

"Your scarf?"

"Yes!"

"And why, Miss Valentine, is your scarf wrapped around a…………gun?" Yami finished as the contents of the scarf fell on to the table.

END OF CHAPTER 11


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh or Death on the Nile 

A/N: Sorry for last chapter I forgot to proofread.

Death on the Nile chapter 12

Ishizu, when questioned, was clearly outraged.

"What? I was nowhere near the deck at ten past one!"

"Well." Said Yami tactfully. "Mai Valentine claims to have seen you."

"And you believe her over me?"

"Why would she lie?"

"Why would I lie?"

"Perhaps you've got something to hide."

"Perhaps she has! It would be easy enough to place the blame on someone else."

Yami considered this. "But, Ishizu, Mai Valentine had no serious motive for the murder of Serenity Wheeler."

Ishizu snorted. "Well explain the fact that the gun ended up in her scarf then."

Yami raised his eyebrows.

"Words travels fast, Yami."

"OK. We don't know anything about how the gun ended up there at the moment. For all we know, someone could have stolen the scarf. Wasn't she complaining earlier in the evening that she couldn't find it?"

"Hmm. A clever ruse. She hid it herself."

Yami sighed. This was going nowhere. Two stories, flat out contradicting one another. Either Ishizu was there or she wasn't. Which meant one of the two was lying. There could be a perfectly innocent explanation for the whole thing, and Yami was beginning to suspect what it was.

"Ishizu, thanks." Interjected Ryou. "You can go now."

"Good." She said sharply.

Ishizu left promptly, leaving Ryou and Yami.

"What do you think?"

"I think we need to find out which of them is lying. Fast."

Yami nodded. "I wouldn't place too high an importance on it, to be honest. I think I know what happened with Miss Ishizu."

----------------------------------------

Yami and Ryou finished their questioning without an overly large amount of fuss. Yami Marik claimed, once again to have heard a splash. Other than that, his answers revealed nothing new. Leon Wilson, too, heard a splash, preceded by a pop, just after half past twelve.

Bakura was, too, cooperative. He was asleep fairly early after he left the observation saloon, he claimed, and heard only a commotion coming from that direction. However, when questioned about his activities on the day of the first murder attempt, that is, the day the boulder was pushed on to Serenity Wheeler, he claimed to have been in the temple, which, after he had left, Yami shed some light on.

"He was absolutely not in the temple. I had just come from there. Either he was doing something he didn't want us to know about, or it was him that tried to kill her. Which puts him at the top of our suspect list, effectually."

"Well, at least that ends our questioning." Pointed out Ryou. "Now we need to decide who is suspected and who isn't."

"OK." Nodded Yami. "I have divided the people on this boat into two groups. One group is the people who have a motive, or have evidence pointing in their direction. They are as follows: Bakura, Alister, Ishizu, Mai, Vivian (possible connection with robbery), and Leon Wilson."

"Leon?"

"He hated everything she stood for. You never know, he might have a had a funny turn and decided to bump her off."

"OK. And the next group?"

Yami cleared his throat. "Those who have, as yet, no discovered motive, or have been cleared on the basis of evidence or alibis. They are: Seto Kaiba, Mokuba, Rebecca, Duke Devlin, Dr. Taylor, Yami Marik, Joey, and Marik Ishtar. Now that doesn't mean those people are completely cleared. But we haven't found any motives for them."

"So, in effect, the only people we can really cross off the suspect list are…"

"Yugi and Tea." Sighed Yami. "They're the only two who physically could not have done it."

Ryou looked at Yami. He seemed troubled. "Yami?"

"Hmm. Ryou, there are things about this case that are really puzzling. Why did the murderer throw the gun overboard? It has the inscription TG on it. Surely their idea was to incriminate Tea. So why get rid of it? It's not as if they'd be stupid enough to leave prints. And Serenity's head. Something…..odd about the way the gunshot wound looked."

Ryou did not comprehend.

"Oh well. Never mind. We'll figure it out."

They decided to pay Yugi a visit, to see how he was doing, but he was distraught, and demanded to see Tea immediately.

"Please." He begged. "She thinks it was her fault."

Yami raised his eyebrows. "And you don't?"

"No!" he exclaimed. "I loved Serenity more than anything in the whole world, but Tea didn't kill her. I know she didn't."

"She did shoot you, Mr. Moto."

He waved this fact away as if it were nothing. "Oh, she didn't mean it. She was angry. Could I please speak to her?"

Yami fetched tea for him. He, Ryou and Dr Tristan exited, so as to give them some privacy.

Ryou and Tristan went off to discuss the medical details of the case, and Yami was left to his own thoughts.

"Yami!" said a cheery voice to his right.

"Oh, hello, Rebecca. Listen, I was wondering if you could tell me something. You seem to know just about everything that's been going on on this boat, so maybe you could clear something up for me."

She grinned. "Sure."

-------------------------------------------------

Five minutes later, when Rebecca had gone, Yami knew all that he needed to from one aspect, anyway. He swiftly proceeded to the cabin of Ishizu Ishtar, and was met with a stony look."

"What is it, Yami?" she said, exasperated.

"Ishizu, you need to tell me the truth. About your brother."

"What truth?" she said sharply.

"Don't lie to me, Ishizu. Your brother has a drug problem."

He waited for the impact of his words to take effect, and sure enough –

"Ok!" she burst out. "Yes. You're right. He-he does. You don't know what it's like, Yami, to live with someone like that. Always worrying about him, where he is, what he's doing. He told me he'd given up, he told me he's try to go without, but-but - "

"Ishizu." Said Yami in a calming tone. "It's ok. I just need to hear from you that what you were throwing overboard was your brothers stash, and then you won't hear from me again. I promise."

"Yes." She said. "That's absolutely what I was doing." She bowed her head, and retreated into her room.

Yami went back to his own room, to consider every aspect of the case so far. He knew he had been right about Ishizu. Which meant his other theory was right – that there was not one, but two splashes. One preceded by the pop, at half past twelve (presumably the disposing of the gun) and the one later, at ten past, one where Ishizu threw overboard her brother's drugs.

So, he presumed, the unknown murderer had waited outside the observation saloon for the coast to be clear (i.e. for Yugi to be carried out), snuck in, extracted the gun from its hiding place, killed Serenity, threw the weapon overboard, and returned to his cabin.

But who? And why?

END OF CH 12

A/n: Feedback means cookies!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh or Death on the Nile 

A/N: Sorry it has been a long time, I have been very busy.

Chapter Thirteen

"I don't see why he should be investigating." Grumbled Seto Kaiba irritably as the party made their way towards the dining saloon. "Can't he leave it to the police, for God's sake?" He was talking to no one in particular.

"Now, now, Kaiba." Said Yami, who had snuck up behind them. "Don't blaspheme." He wandered away.

"Shit!" growled Kaiba, smacking his hand against the wall.

They sat down to lunch. Nobody, however, was in a particularly sociable mood. Apart from Rebecca, of course, who made small talk with whoever would listen. Which, needless to say, was no one.

"What's this about the girl's pearls, anyway, Yami?" asked Kaiba, in a would-be casual tone.

Yami smiled in a self-satisfied way. "Heard about that, did you, Mr. Kaiba? I was under the impression no one knew."

Kaiba reddened. "People talk." He replied stiffly.

"Well. Mrs. Moto's pearls were stolen. We have know clue as to who might have taken them."

Kaiba nodded. "And the girl herself? You don't think it was the same person? That killed her, I mean?"

Yami shrugged. "There's every possibility that the thief and the murder are the same person."

"Oh."

"Oh indeed."

Ryou stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen. My name is Ryou Bakura; I am the investigating officer in the death of Serenity Moto. Now that you are settled, I am afraid I may have to unsettle you. My colleague, Yami, and I will be conducting a search of the boat. You will all have to remain here, under the supervision of the captain. After we have finished, a search of all of you will commence. I hope none of you object."

Mai Valentine looked outraged. "I object! Very strongly! I refuse to have my dignity offended by a police search! And if you think I'm letting you in my cabin, you are very much mistaken! Do you not know who I am?"

Leon rolled his eyes. "We all know who you are, lady." He said dryly. "You've made sure to remind us every half hour of this trip, lest we forget."

"Well, I'm not doing it."

"Miss Valentine." Began Yami, standing up. "I am trying my best to be tactful with all of you. We are catching a dangerous criminal. And I need you all to be cooperative. We are leaving now. Not only is a young girl dead, but a very expensive pearl necklace has gone missing."

Yami and Ryou left a stunned audience in the dining saloon.

"Well." Said Ryou cheerfully. "Let's get on with it, then."

They were forestalled, however, by the emergence of a person from the saloon. It was Duke Devlin.

"Devlin?" asked Yami. "What going on?"

He looked embarrassed. "Nothing much. Just…this."

He opened his hands. Lying, curled neatly into a ball inside them was a string of glistening pearls.

Ryou gasped. Yami frowned. "The pearls? You took them, Duke?"

He shook his head vehemently. "No. Not me. Mai."

Ryou and Yami looked quizzically at each other. "Mai Valentine stole the pearls?"

He nodded. "She…takes things. She can't help it. She's a…you know. A kleptomaniac."

Yami understood. "How did you know she had taken the pearls?"

"She always hides what she takes in the same place, her make up bag. I check it every morning. I did so this morning, and there they were. I knew who they belonged to. I don't claim to be an expert on women's jewelry, but no one else on this boat had anything like that."

Yami nodded. He took the pearls from Duke's outstretched hands, and examined them with a puzzled look on his face.

Ryou thanked Duke for having brought the theft to their attention. "Just a quick question, Duke. Kleptomania is a mental illness, however mild. I don't suppose your employer also has homicidal tendencies?"

Duke quickly shook his head. "No way. Mai may be a bitch, but she'd never hurt a fly. Too messy." He laughed.

"One more thing." Interjected Yami. "I noticed she was wearing something in her ear earlier. Mai doesn't have a problem with her hearing, does she?"

Duke raised his eyebrows. "You noticed that?"

Yami smiled. "It's my job to notice things."

"Well, yeah. She was in a train accident earlier this year. She damaged her ears quite badly. She can't hear out of her left one hardly at all, but the right's OK so long as she wears the hearing aid."

"Which I assume she takes out at night?"

"Yep. Why's this relevant?"

Yami shook his head non-committally. "Only that Mai's cabin was next to Serenity Moto's."

"Er, OK."

"Thank you, Duke. You can rejoin the others in the dining room now."

He did so.

----------------------------------------------------

"Well. That does clear up one thing." Said Yami.

Ryou looked utterly confused. "It does?"

Yami nodded. "No silencer needed. The only cabin near Serenity's was Mai Valentine's, and she has hearing problems. The Kaiba's and Marik's are one the same deck, but the other side. Too far away. That only leaves Bakura."

"But…" began Ryou weakly, still puzzled. "But we found the gun wrapped in that scarf! There were bullet shaped holes in it! That can only mean that the gun was wrapped in the scarf!"

Yami shrugged. "It may. But I have an idea of my own about that scarf."

Ryou folded his arms. "Going to share it?"

Yami sighed. "Not just at the moment."

Ryou could see he was going to get nowhere. Yami was following his own line of thinking. "So. Interesting about that Valentine woman. You believe Duke's story, I suppose?"

Yami sat on the deck next to Ryou. "I do. His story is pretty plausible. Of course, it may well be a lie. He may have taken the pearls himself, or that whole party may be in on it. But on the face of it, it seems a credible story. But we are now faced with a difficult problem."

Ryou looked up. "What now?"

"I've been examining these pearls, Ryou. I've come across a good deal of jewelry in my time, thefts, whatnot. And these are absolutely fake."

Ryou gasped. "No! _Fake?_ Oh, you have to be kidding!"

Yami shook his head gravely. "I'm afraid not. She was definitely wearing the real ones when she boarded the boat, I could tell they were the real thing. Which means the substitution was made by someone else."

"Duke Devlin?"

Yami raised his eyebrows. "Possibly. Or, it is possible that the substitution was made earlier in the evening, and the pearls Mai took were the fake ones."

Ryou nodded. "I suppose the substitution could have been made anytime."

"No. Only last night. She was wearing them. I'm sure if they had been changed the day before, Serenity would have noticed the change."

"Right. So sometime that night before one in the morning, someone nicked the real pearls, possibly Mai herself, maybe someone else earlier. Got it."

"Yes. And now there is nothing for it but to search all the passengers' cabins for the real pearls. Not that I think our search will come to anything. I'm sure the thief will have taken great care to hide them properly. He is the obsessive sort."

"Huh?" asked Ryou.

"Never mind." Replied Yami. "Just another little thought of mine."

-------------------------------------------------------

The search of the boat bore very little of interest, to the unobservant eye. Yami noticed several objects that were, to him, palpably important, but neglected to mention them to Ryou. He would not interpret their significance in the same way.

The results of the search, as written down by Ryou, were as follows:

**Yami Marik: **Archaeological newsletters, artifacts, letters, colored silk handkerchiefs.

**Leon Wilson: **Lots of books, poor quality clothing, signet ring.

**Vivian Wong (maid to Serenity): **Virtually empty.

**Malik Ishtar: **Very little. A few clothes. Letters.

**Kaiba: **Books, photographs of him, his brother, and an unknown woman with red hair and "unusual" dress sense. (Significant to Yami?), a rosary (ditto).

**Mokuba: **Clothes, magazines, stash of candy.

**Yugi: **Suitcases (Yugi is staying in the cabin of Dr Taylor)

**Serenity: **Nothing new. Yami examines nail polish with interest. Particularly one containing a dark red polish.

**Mai: **Fancy clothing, jewelry, makeup case, etc.

**Duke: **Nothing of interest.

**Dr Taylor: **Surgical instruments, knife missing. Nothing else. Yugi Moto present, wounded. Denies that late wife had copy of pearls made.

**Bakura: **Legal documents, letters from companion in British law office, suitcase bearing labels from "Carmanic" ferry, gun (a large revolver), about 38 caliber.

"Well, that was a whole load of nothing." Muttered Ryou dejectedly. "I don't suppose you could tell if those documents were crooked?"

Yami shook his head. "I hardly pretend to be a legal expert. If what I suspect is true, then he shall tell us himself."

"Um, OK. And what about that gun, eh?"

"Well, neither Yugi nor Serenity was shot with a thing that size. As far as we know, those are the only two shots that took place."

"Big enough for a silencer, though?"

"That is true."

Ryou shook his head. "I'm so baffled. This case gets more and more confusing every minute."

Yami was silent. To him, it only became more and more clear. But he did not want to make Ryou feel bad.

-------------------------------------------------------

They proceeded to search the passengers themselves. They did not interrupt the fluent conversation between Ishizu and Tea when they discovered a small gun in Ishizu's purse. Yami quietly replaced it and gave the girl back her bag.

"My goodness!" hissed Ryou. "Does every girl on this boat have a tiny gun like that? It's practically an exact match to Tea's!"

"Yes." Said Yami thoughtfully. "It is."

No other passengers had anything out of the way, other than Yami Marik, who also had a gun, for which he proudly showed them his license. This, too, was a large gun.

After all the passengers had been carefully searched, Yami and Ryou came to the conclusion that they were going to find nothing of interest. The only thing was, there was a passenger that they couldn't find at all.

"Where is the maid?" asked Ryou. "You know, Vivian Wong? That awful girl with a face full of make up and the nasty grin?"

"Ah, yes." Replied Yami. "That girl that proclaimed, so very cryptically, to have seen no one on the fateful night. Where can she have got to?"

They were not long in doubt. One of the stewards, white with fear, cannoned into them as he rushed around the deck frantically.

"Calm down, man, what is it?"

"There-there's a dead body!" he choked out.

"What? Where?" snapped Yami.

"In the girl's bedroom. Vivian Wong's room. She-she's under the bed."

"Oh my…"

Yami and Ryou rushed to the room, but it was, of course, far too late. Dr Tristan pronounced that the body had been dead at least an hour. She had been stabbed to the heart. And in the corner of her oily, cheaply manicured hands, was the fragment of a hundred dollar bill.

END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN

R&R please! I made cookies today, and anyone who reviews can have one. Metaphorically, of course. Besides, I'm not much of a cook….Oh, never mind!


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh or Death on the Nile

Chapter 14

"So when do you think it was done, doctor?"

Dr Tristan was a little vague. "It's hard to be very precise, guys. I haven't got much of my stuff with me. I was hardly anticipating anything of this kind happening on the trip."

"Of course."

"Well, it's a roundabout an hour ago. That's as close as I can get."

Yami nodded. "And the murder weapon?"

The doctor flushed and looked uncomfortable. "A surgical knife. One of my own." He said gruffly.

"One of yours?" asked Ryou.

Yami glanced at him. "We should hardly be surprised, Ryou. When we searched his cabin one was missing. Remember?"

"Oh, yes. Of course." Said Ryou, blushing.

Dr Tristan was clearly indignant. "Well, someone must have taken it! Come on, I'm hardly going to murder some maid. Why should I?"

Ryou tried to be tactful, as Yami would not be. "Well, doctor, um, you see, the girl was blackmailing the murderer. We think. You can see the fragment of the hundred dollar bill in her hand. Obviously she was given some money. And when she was counting it, that's when the murderer struck. They must have abstracted the knife from your room when Yugi Moto was asleep."

Yami raised his eyebrows. "Rather risky."

"Well, we know the murderer is prepared to take risks. I mean, taking Tea's gun from the room and going to shoot Serenity, when all of that commotion was going on, and half the boat was awake. A miracle they pulled it off without being seen."

Yami frowned. "Perhaps they _were _seen."

----------------------------------------------------------

Yami found Tea Gardner on the deck. She was staring out into the blue ocean, which was glistening with the reflection of the sun.

"Hello, Tea." He said, rather unimaginatively.

"Hello, Yami. How's the investigation going?"

"Not good. A woman has been killed. Serenity's maid, Vivian Wong."

"I know." She said vaguely. She seemed to be, somehow, not all there.

"How do you know?" he asked sharply.

"Rebecca Hawkins told me." She replied.

"Oh. Of course."

"Are you still glad that you came, Tea?" he asked carefully. It was only then that he noticed tears forming in Tea's eyes.

"No. Not anymore. Yami, you have to believe me. I never really wanted Serenity dead. She was a beautiful person in every way. I loved her. She was my closest friend. Friends used to be so important to me….Until I met Yugi."

"And I suppose after you met him, nothing else mattered but him?"

"Yes…only Yugi. You can't imagine the pain when I found that he had betrayed me…for her. It was him that I was angry with, really. I had known her for so long. I never believed, never wanted to believe, that she would deliberately hurt me. But him…"

Yami gently touched Tea on the shoulder. "It's OK, Tea. I believe you."

"Thank you. Oh, look at me. I'm being so pathetic. And you're being so nice to me…"

"I sympathize with you, Tea. As a detective I really ought not to become attached to suspects…but there's something strong about you. Something unexplainable."

A mild cough from behind cut the scene short. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

It was Ishizu. Yami lit up. "Ishizu! Good to see you, I need to speak with you, if you don't mind."

She raised her eyebrows but acquiesced. "Of course. Would you like to see me alone?"

Yami turned to Tea. "If you wouldn't mind, Tea. I'd really like to talk to Ishizu alone. It might have a bearing on the case."

Tea nodded. "Sure. See you later, Yami. Oh, Ishizu, I left my lipgloss in your room. Do you mind if I pop in there and get it?"

"Sure."

Tea left.

Yami approached Ishizu confidentially. "So. Ishizu. How have you been?"

She was in a cold mood. "I've been better. My brother is being difficult. Sometimes I wish…no, it's too awful. Never mind."

"Well, at least you have some friends on the boat. Is that not so?"

She reddened slightly. "Well. Mokuba Kaiba has been very friendly. He's a very intelligent boy, for his age. Only fifteen, you know. Can be remarkably immature, but he knows a lot. It's a lot of fun to talk with him. It's really a shame there isn't really anyone of his age on the boat."

Yami nodded sympathetically. "Yes. I suppose you're the closest to his age, really?"

"Yes. Apart from Joey, but I'd never let that poor boy associate with my brother."

"And what about his own brother?" asked Yami, feigning mild interest. Ishizu went even redder.

"You-you mean Seto Kaiba?"

Yami nodded, a smile forming on his face.

"Seto is…hard to understand." She said forlornly. Clearly this subject was closed. "So, what was it you wanted to ask me about?"

"Do you own a gun? A small one?"

She looked genuinely surprised. "A gun? No, why?"

Yami nodded. "No reason. I don't suppose you would mind if I checked your purse, then?"

"Of course not. It's in my room. I'll go get it."

She re emerged a couple of minutes later. She opened the purse, to reveal –

"Nothing."

She looked at him as if he were simple. "You expected there to be something?"

"Never mind. Forget it. For now. I have another question. When you were throwing your brother's drugs overboard on that night, did you happen to see anyone? Perhaps, as you were going up to the top deck? Maybe they were just leaving?"

She shook her head vehemently. "No. I didn't see anyone. No one at all. I went up there, threw the stuff over board, and left again, as quickly as possible. I guess that's when Mai Valentine saw me?"

He nodded. "She saw you, then when you were gone, she snuck into the room of Serenity Moto and stole her pearls."

Ishizu's eyes widened. "Really? I never knew that!"

"No, you wouldn't do. Well, anyway, thank you for answering my questions, Ishizu."

She shrugged. "Not a problem. Can I go now?"

"Yes. I'll see you later."

Ishizu wandered back to her own room.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Ryou approached Yami, as he was making his way back to the dining room, where he and Ryou were meant to convene.

"Ryou?"

"I've had an idea about that telegram."

"What telegram?"

"The one that was sent to Yami Marik. The one that Serenity opened. Do you remember how angry he got?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, I've just had a thought about why, that's all. I want to ask Yugi about it."

Yami nodded. "We'll go there now. I hope this idea of yours makes things a little clearer?"

"Not really." Muttered Ryou. "I mean, it's an idea, of course, but it seems rather unlikely. And it just leaves so many things unexplained."

"There are several points about this case that seem so irrelevant, and yet could not be more important." Said Yami sagely.

"Such as?"

"The conversation Tea and I had back at the hotel. The statement of Seto Kaiba. His rather questionable religious beliefs. The photos? The answers given to us by Vivian Wong. The nail polish I found in Serenity's cabin. The gun that was thrown overboard. The velvet scarf. The way the wound on Serenity's head looked. It all adds up, doesn't it?"

"Does it?" asked Ryou with a hint of laughter in his voice. "Well, let's go talk to Yugi, at any rate."

They arrived at the doctor's cabin to find Yugi Moto awake, and lying on the bed, clearly still in pain.

"I think it might be time for another shot of morphine, don't you, Mr. Moto?" asked the doctor in a friendly voice. Yugi agreed through gritted teeth.

"Hello, Dr.Tristan." said Ryou happily. "I hope you're not busy in here?"

"Not at all. I'll just dispose of this syringe, and be out of your hair, if you want to question the patient - "

Yami interrupted. "No, no, stay. It's fine. We just wanted to ask Yugi a few questions about a telegram that his wife received, if that would be OK by him."

Yugi, who looked considerably more comfortable now, nodded. "Sure. I remember the telegram. It said stuff about - "

Before he could finish, a blur of blond burst in, frantically gasping. Joey Wheeler.

"Joey?"

"I have information!" declared the energetic boy.

"Information? About what? Spit it out!" said Ryou excitedly.

"I know who killed your wife, Yugi!" he exclaimed.

He went white. "You do? Who, who was it?"

Ryou interjected. "How do you know, Joey?"

"The person that killed that maid chick is the same as the one the killed the wife, right?"

Yami and Ryou both nodded. "Certainly."

"Well, I know who killed the maid, so I know who killed Serenity!" he said triumphantly, then stopped, as if waiting for further prompting.

Yugi shook his head anxiously. "Start at the beginning." He said in an unnecessarily loud voice. "You say you know who killed my wife. Tell us exactly what you saw." He almost shouted.

"Well, I was on my way up here to talk to that ass, you know, the rich one."

"Seto Kaiba?"

"Yeah." He said with an air of disgust. "Him. I wanted to tell him to leave my sister the hell alone. This was just before lunch. I didn't find rich boy, so I came back down, and on the way down, I saw the killer come out of that Vivian chick's cabin."

"And? Who was it?"

"It was - "

Bang.

A spattering of blood and brains, as scream of desperation from Ryou, an anguished cry from Yugi, and vague growls from Yami and Dr. Tristan.

"Oh my goodness!" cried Ryou, with several accompanying girlish squeals. "I'm covered in blood!"

"Not now, Ryou!" cried Yami, and without wasting a moment, rushed outside. Sure enough, he found a smoking gun lying beside the open window.

"Damn! They've gone!"

He ran around the side of the deck, to find Kaiba running towards him. "I heard a shot! What the hell is going on here?"

"Joey Wheeler's been killed, Kaiba." Said Yami. "Find Ishizu, quickly. Take care of her for a while."

He nodded, and ran back the opposite way.

People were beginning to come out their cabins. Tea appeared, as did Duke and Rebecca. From the upper deck, Marik and Mokuba came rushing. And up the stairs from the lower deck came Leon and Malik.

Yami picked up the gun, recognized it immediately. He decided it was time to have a talk with its owner about this and certain other matters. He tramped up the stairs and made his way towards Bakura's cabin.

END OF CHAPTER 14


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh or Death on the Nile

Chapter 15

"I don't believe you. You must be kidding."

"This is not a joke, Bakura. Three people have been murdered since we arrived one this boat and one of them was murdered with your gun. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I was here the entire time. I've been in here for half an hour, working. So what if he was killed with my gun?"

Yami raised his eyebrows. "You don't seem to show much sympathy for the victim."

"You're right, I don't. A useless, drug-addicted teenager. What's the point of him being alive in the first place?"

"You still haven't explained how Joey Wheeler was killed with your gun when it was supposedly in here with you."

"Well, I don't know. It might have been stolen from me at any time, I don't routinely check to see if it's still there. I showed it off last night, must have been almost everyone that saw it. Any one of them could have quite easily snuck into my room and taken it, no trouble."

A snort. "Not everyone is a professional thief, Bakura."

Bakura narrowed his eyes into a menacing glare. "I'm not sure what you're implying, but frankly, I don't care. You can check for gun shot residue if you're so desperate to pin this on me."

"We can't. It's not as if we have hi tech forensic equipment with us, we're meant to be on holiday."

"What a damn shame. So why was this cretin shot anyway?"

Ryou interposed here. "Joey was killed because he was about to reveal the name of the person who killed Serenity Moto. Presumably the murderer either heard him speak, he was talking very loud, or saw him enter the cabin in his frenzy. They then came to take your revolver, as you say, and shot Joey through the head."

Bakura raised his eyebrows. "Nice shot."

"Bakura," began Yami, "would you come to my cabin in half an hour? I have a couple of things I'd like to discuss with you, if that's all right."

"Fine. Whatever. I'll be there." Muttered Bakura.

Ryou and Yami left.

"Do you think we accomplished anything there, Yami?"

"Frankly, no. But we will when he comes to visit us later, be sure of that." Yami replied.

"So he's the prime suspect, I guess?"

"At a glance, it seems as if there is no one more perfect to have committed the crime. He has motive, means, and opportunity. There is no one to corroborate his statement that he was in his cabin for the last half an hour. He might easily have done it. Yes, we must keep him high on the suspect list for now. But there are still aspects of this case we would do well not to forget."

"Such as?"

"We have yet to discover who the person Yugi spoke of was. The person whose father was ruined by hers. That person clearly has a grudge against her. We have yet to discover who the criminal you were put on this boat to track is. We have yet to discover the meaning of that telegram."

"Oh yes, the telegram!" exclaimed Ryou. "We never found out what it said, did we? Joey came bursting in before Yugi could finish telling us what was in it. Should we go back?"

"Not yet. I think it would now be wise to return to the scene of the crime. That is, the scene of the third crime."

"OK."

They made their way back to the deck where the shooting had taken place. Ishizu was talking with Tea.

"Hello, ladies. How are you both today?" asked Ryou politely.

Tea shook her head. "Still a bit shaken up. I never thought something that horrible would happen…not again."

"And you, Ishizu?"

Ishizu was very pale. "I'm OK. It's a big loss. He was the only person I had to take care of. And now I have no one to take care of. It's going to be a difficult adjustment."

Yami smiled wanly. "Miss Ishizu, you are a strong woman. But I have a feeling there will soon come along someone who needs you to take care of him."

"And who might that be?"

Yami merely tapped his nose.

"So why are you two back?"

"Well, they say sometimes the murderer returns to the scene of the crime, do they not?"

Ishizu laughed. "So I suppose that makes Tea and I the criminals!"

Yami grinned. "You never know. We are trying, you see, to figure out which way the murderer might have gone. They might, you see, have gone to the starboard side, and thus up the stairs to the top deck. But then Seto Kaiba, who was coming in the opposite direction, would have seen them. Unless, of course, he had just come from the scene himself. That is, if he himself is the criminal. Or they might have gone to the port side, and thus towards the stairs leading down to the bottom deck. But then they would have run into Malik and Leon, who were sitting on the deck watching the sunset. Where else, I wonder, could they have gone?"

Tea frowned. "I suppose it's possible they went over the side, isn't it? I mean, if you swing yourself down over the deck in the right way, you'll end up on the bottom deck. A bit of a risk, but I suppose the murderer doesn't have much regard for risks."

Yami smiled. "I hadn't thought of that. You are quite right, Tea."

At this juncture, Leon Wilson came around the corner casually strolling towards the party, accompanied by Rebecca Hawkins.

"Well, this is a turn up for the books, eh? Three deaths since we got on board!"

"Oh, Leon, you're horrible. You don't care at all." Said Rebecca, her voice full of distaste for him.

"Damn straight. None of those people did anything useful. All they did was sit around wasting their lives. And our oxygen. As far as I'm concerned, it's a damn good thing they've been popped off."

Rebecca fumed. "What is your problem, Leon? You don't care about anybody! Look at Serenity! She may not have been that useful, but lots of people liked her, and Yugi loved her very much! And that maid had family, she must have had friends, and she performed a job. She had no less reason to live than anyone else, not least you. And Joey. Look at his poor sister! She's got to carry on in the world totally alone!"

At this, Leon merely laughed. "Rebecca! You really haven't got a spiteful bone in your body, have you? Did you know, Yami," he turned now to address Yami, "that Rebecca's father was completely ruined by Serenity Moto's father. Put him out of business! Sunk her entire family, made Rebecca come to work for that bitch of a woman, and here she is, singing the girl's praises!" He now turned back to Rebecca. "Rebecca Hawkins, you're the only nice girl I've ever met. Do you wanna go out sometime?"

Rebecca's eyes practically popped out. "WHAT?!? Are you kidding?"

He looked innocently back at her. "No. Why would I be kidding?"

Rebecca gave a wail of despair and ran off. Leon raised his eyebrows. "Looks like I've got my work cut out for me, eh?"

He followed her into the observation saloon, where Mai Valentine was sitting powdering her face. Yami, Ryou and Tea, intrigued, followed the both of them in.

"Miss Valentine." Began Leon. "I'd like to ask your young cousin and trusted employee here out on a date. Would that be OK by you?"

Mai Valentine looked outraged. "It most certainly would not. Who do you think you are?"

"So you think I'm not good enough for her?"

"Of course you're not! You're despicable!"

"I'm perfectly nice, once you get to know me." He winked.

"There is such a thing as class, Mr. Wilson. And you have none. Please get out of my sight before I call the steward."

Leon shrugged, and turned to leave. "I'm not giving up, Rebecca." He added before he went. She followed him out.

Mai Valentine, who was now left alone with Yami, Ryou and Tea, shook her head in dismay. "That boy has ruined my trip. He thinks because he wears scruffy clothes and has communist ideals he can change my Rebecca. That will never happen. I won't let him do that."

Yami smiled. "Yes indeed, well off young men do often pick up strange concepts when they are at College."

She started. "Well off?"

He smiled further, evidently reveling in her chagrin. "Oh, yes, didn't you know? One of the wealthiest and oldest New York families. I found a signet ring when I was searching his cabin, it was quite obvious. Surely you've heard of Zigfried Von Schroeder?"

She gasped. "But-but the Von Schroeders have been personal friends of mine for years!"

"Well, obviously not that close." Grinned Yami. "I'm sure they would have otherwise mentioned their wayward nephew, Leon Von Schroeder. Or Leon Wilson, as he now calls himself."

"So you mean to tell me that boy is actually rich?"

Yami nodded. "Extremely."

Mai Valentine was speechless. Yami and the others departed, leaving her to her thoughts.

_Yes, _though Yami. _It all fits in now._

End of chapter 15 


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh or Death on the Nile

Chapter 16

Yami and Ryou were sitting in Yami's cabin, waiting for inspiration to strike. Or rather, Ryou was. Yami seemed to have the entire thing figured out already. Ryou was sitting pouting about the fact that that he did not.

"Ryou?" asked Yami tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"Will you go and fetch Malik Ishtar for me?" he requested in his sweetest voice.

Ryou sighed. "Sure. He departed, leaving Yami alone to his thoughts for a few minutes. Ryou returned a couple of minutes later with Malik, who looked confused and nervous, with a worried smile on his face.

"What's up, Yami? I – I didn't do anything, did I?"

"Sit down, Malik. There's something I need to ask you."

Malik sat. His blonde hair was falling conspicuously into his face, covering his eyes.

"I just wanted to know why, on the second day, you interrupted the conversation between Serenity and her lawyer. He was trying to get her to sign some papers. You prevented her. Why was that?"

Malik went red. "No reason. I – I just didn't want her to get into anything she wasn't- uh, that she didn't know – well, what was happening. You know, some women are so – so silly about signing things. Without realizing what they are."

Yami raised his eyebrows. "Is that it?"

Malik's eyes sank even lower into the desk in front of him. "Yes. What else would there be?"

"Just tell the truth. It'll save a lot of time, since I already know what it is."

Malik sighed. It was not a sigh of exasperation, however, more a sigh of relief at no longer having to carry the burden of any sort of secret, something at which he was clearly not good.

"OK. I work for an American law firm. I represent the estate of Serenity Moto. She's never met me, but my uncle is one of her trustees. He sent me here."

Yami nodded. "To try to prove that Bakura was trying to steal her money?"

"Yeah. I was to keep an eye on him, especially when he was talking to her or trying to get her to sign anything. People really do let their guard down when they go on holiday, you know. It was easy, though. She's a smart girl. Was a smart girl, I should say."

"So you were trying to warn her, am I right?"

Malik nodded. "That's right. Trying to get her to think carefully before signing. Turns out I needn't have bothered." He finished mournfully.

"Thanks, Malik. All I needed to hear."

"So I can go?"

"Uh, wait. Let me ask you one more thing. If you were going to cheat someone out of their money" – Malik looked scandalized – "would you prefer to deal with Serenity of Yugi Moto?"

Malik looked wary of the question, but when he answered, he seemed fairly definite. "Yugi. To be honest, I don't think he'd even glance twice at anything he was supposed to be signing."

"Thanks a lot, Malik. You can go now. We're expecting someone. If he's outside, send him in."

Malik got up, and went to open the door. Bakura was standing there. He gave Malik a look of pure venom, and entered the room. Malik squeaked and left.

Yami did not have to ask Bakura to sit down. The white haired man sat, crossed his legs, folded his arms, and narrowed his eyes at Yami and Ryou.

"Now tell me what I'm doing here, you two." He said in his smooth, sinister voice.

"Just a few questions, Bakura. Don't worry, I'm sure you won't mind answering them."

"Fine. Get on with it."

"Were you close with Serenity before her death?"

"Yes. She was like a sister. Her father gave me a job."

"How did you feel when you learned that she had married?"

Bakura's fists clenched, but his outward manner did not change. "Surprised. I ran into her in Cairo, you see. She was there with her new husband. I did not know about the marriage beforehand. Her letter was sent on to me here. I left New York before it arrived there."

"Is that so? So her marriage did not cause any – how should I put this – panic in your office?"

Bakura's cheeks went pink, his knuckles white against the surface of the desk. "I don't know what the hell you're implying, but the answer is no."

"The why did you leave New York by the ferry Normandie, the day after Serenity's letter would have arrived there?" asked Yami, pausing there for dramatic effect. "And why did you lie to us and tell us you had no idea she was married before you came out here?"

Bakura was clearly absolutely incensed, but had no intention of giving up the fight that easily.

"All right! You want the truth? I came out here because I knew her American lawyer, Ishtar, was cheating her! I came her to stop him, to warn her! Don't you people see I was only looking after her best interests?"

Yami merely laughed. "Bakura, you cannot expect us to believe a word of your story. This is ridiculous."

Bakura snapped. He lunged for Yami, who called out for help. Ryou squealed and ducked into a corner of the room as a couple of stewards ran in to prise Bakura's fists off Yami's collar.

"Bakura!" called Yami, over the chaos and confusion that was now surrounding them. "Don't think you are going to get away with fraud and embezzlement! Sit down and tell us the truth! It may save you from being charged with murder!"

The stewards let Bakura go, and he sat down calmly. "Fine. I was trying to steal from her. I admit it. But I didn't kill her. I didn't. You'll never get me for that."

"But you did try. You tried to kill her by rolling that boulder on her that day at the temple of Abu Simbel. Didn't you?"

Bakura sighed, seeing no point in continuing any sort of façade. "Yeah. I did that. I rolled that boulder. But I didn't win. I didn't kill her. It was so easy. But – I didn't get another chance. I was going to try again. Probably when we were off the cruise. Everyone was already so suspicious of me it wasn't worth trying again here. Especially with you two poking around. But the shooting. That wasn't me. I swear to God it wasn't."

"And you did it because now that her money was essentially in her husband's hands, you'd have a much easier time taking it?"

He nodded. "The man is pathetic. He has no business sense whatsoever. He would have been putty in my hands had everything gone to plan. I would have been a billionaire within weeks." He said miserably.

Yami frowned. "Get him out of here." He commanded the stewards.

------------------------------------------------------------

After Bakura had been removed, Ryou was visibly shocked. He had only returned to his seat when Bakura was safely out the room, and he now looked at Yami with a fearful glance.

"Well, that's it. Isn't it? I mean, it must have been him."

Yami was silent.

"No doubt about it, right?"

Again, Yami did not reply, but frowned. When he did speak, he was cryptic.

"The garden at Makadi bay. The photographs. The nail polish. The velvet scarf. Yes. It all adds up. Bakura is not the criminal, Ryou."

Ryou was dumbfounded. "Not the criminal? But then who is? There's no one else, Yami! This – this case has been so confusing! I don't think I can stand it any longer! Please, won't you tell us who the murderer is?"

Yami shook his head. "There is just one more person. We have dealt with Malik. And we have, I truly believe, got all we can out of Bakura. Now I need to see Seto Kaiba. We're going to clear this up once and for all."

END OF CHAPTER 16


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Sucks.

A/N: I'm sorry I haven't updated this fic in so long...but I haven't given up on it. I will finish it I promise. The holidays are here, and I have very little do apart from write or go to work. And I know which I'd rather do.

Chapter 17

"Sit down, Mr Kaiba. Make yourself comfortable."

Seto Kaiba narrowed his eyes. He did not like the sound of this at all.

"I said sit." Said Yami sharply. Kaiba sat.

"Why am I here?" he asked a little tentatively.

Yami smiled. "I think you know why you are here, Seto. Don't bother to pretend with me."

Seto did not reply.

"I have been intrigued by you from the very beginning of this case. And yet...at first, I could not explain why. There were just things that didn't add up. Tell me, are you friendly with a young woman named Ariel Devlin?"

Seto paled. "A-Ariel?"

"That's right. Ariel."

Seto shook his head. "Never heard of her."

Yami smiled knowingly. "Yes, I thought you might say that. You see, when we were searching the cabins, I found some rather interesting photographs. They are of you, your younger brother, and a young woman with remarkably bright red hair, and the most piercing blue eyes. Now, I knew that I recognised the girl from somewhere, but it took me the longest time to figure out where. And then I remembered. On the first day here, before we boarded the ship, I was reading a newspaper, and there was an interesting article about a suspected jewel thief named Ariel Devlin. Now this Ariel had long black hair rather than red, but unless she has an identical twin sister, I can assure you with some certainty that this was the same girl I saw in your pictures. And since I decline to believe in the coincidence of her having an identical twin sister, you have some explaining to do. For a start, you just lied to me about knowing her. Now why would you do that, I wonder?"

"None of your damn business, that's why."

"An interesting answer, that should make an impression on the courts."

"The – the what?"

Yami glared at him. "Kaiba! You are going to be charged with murder unless you tell me the truth!"

"Why don't you tell me? You seem to know it all."

Yami looked down, and sighed. This was not going to be as easy as he had hoped. Perhaps Seto Kaiba would not cooperate. And then where would they be?

"Fine. I will tell you the truth. And after I am done you will admit to everything, Mr. Kaiba, or you are finished. Understand?"

Kaiba narrowed his steely blue eyes. " I don't believe you know a God damn thing, you nosy little bastard."

Yami gave the merest hint of a smile. "Now now, Kaiba. It's not nice to blaspheme. Especially what with you being such a devout Catholic, and all."

A colour like Yami had not seen before rose to Seto Kaiba's face.

"Yes, my friend. I know all! I know about Miss Devlin's little brushes with the law. Despite being what you might call rough, she is an extremely accomplished jewel thief, is she not?"

"Is she?" asked Kaiba in a strangled sort of voice.

"Now there have been a number of robberies of the jewellery of rich women over the last few months, and according to my friend the good Inspector Ryou Bakura, she is suspected of all of the crimes. That is, she was the one that engineered the crimes. It was not she that took the jewellery. Her accomplice did that."

"Oh yes? And who might that be?"

"Mr Kaiba! From the first moment we met, you have resented my presence. You are the friend of a professional thief. Your manner is most unnatural. Especially regarding your Christian beliefs. You do not, forgive me for saying so, seem like the sort of person who would have a faith in the Good God. As a matter of fact, you seem like you ought to be an atheist of the most vehement. But no. Naturally when the pearls are discovered to be missing, I think of he who has acted most suspiciously. But then – tragedy for my theory! The pearls are returned to me by Duke Devlin, and he claims that Mai Valentine stole them. Clearly, you cannot have been involved. But then, I discover the pearls he has given me are fake. Has then he switched them for the originals? I think not. _You _took the pearls, Seto Kaiba, and you replaced them with the false ones. You had a number of books in your possession. I imagine you were mailed them by the admirable Miss Devlin, the pearls concealed inside."

Kaiba smiled grimly, trying to rally. "Oh yes? A most interesting theory it is, Yami, but pray tell what did I do with those pearls? A search was made of the boat and all the passengers."

Yami nodded. "Yes, and an ingenious hiding place was devised by a most ingenious criminal. There is in your cabin a rosary, Mr Kaiba. It was my discovery of that rosary, coupled with the photographs of you, your brother, and Miss Devlin, that was the coping stone to my theory. I had by this time decided that your religious tendencies were nothing more than a farce, but I had yet to discover the reason for them. Well, here it was, staring me in the face. You know as a well as I do that police searchers will not massacre religious symbols unless there is something obviously suspicious about them. It was inside this rosary that you hid the pearls. Most clever."

Kaiba frowned. "I suppose you think you have it all figured out. I suppose now you'd like to tell me why I'd need to steal jewellery worth no more than fifty or sixty thousand dollars when I am the president of a multi-million dollar empire?"

"Ah, but are you? It is my job to make enquiries. That business deal you were so preoccupied with on the first day I saw you at the hotel? I have discovered that it was the only thing that could have kept KaibaCorp from going under. And it failed. Your stocks have crashed. Your company is ruined. You needed to raise money and fast. For the lovely Ariel."

"And why should I give money to this Ariel? I do not do romance. It's not as if I cared for her in any way."

"There is a difference, I think, between romance and sex. Sometimes, we just can't help ourselves, eh, Mr Kaiba?"

Seto went even redder than before. "I don't know what you mean."

"Do not pretend!" barked Yami. "It is over, don't you see that? You were paying Ariel Devlin child support!"

Kaiba was silent. You could have heard a pin drop for all the sound anyone was making. No one spoke for several seconds.

Yami continued, much calmer. "Yes. I know. It was a few years ago now. You were young. Foolish. You hoped never to see the girl again. But she came back into your life. Demanded money. You could hardly refuse. And it was no skin off your nose, being the millionaire you were. But when the company began to run into trouble, losing hundreds of thousands each week, you could no longer afford to keep paying her by legal means...you stole jewellery. It was the one thing she was good at. You were quite the team."

Kaiba grunted. "It was – a little fun. I'd never done anything like it before. She and I became almost – friends. Brought together in our misery. And she and Mokuba got on like a house on fire. And he loved Cecelia. That is – her name."

"Your daughter?"

Kaiba nodded. "I guess there's not a lot of point denying it now. I stole the pearls. Of course I did. I snuck into the lady's room, about one o clock it must have been, took the pearls from her bedside table, and snuck out again."

"And you care for her? Miss Devlin? She is a beautiful girl. And a clever thief."

Kaiba shook his head vehemently. "She and I are nothing more than acquaintances now. She is moving away. To Germany. She has someone new – someone who can take care of her. Zigfried Von Schroeder, his name is. Like you said, it was a mistake...this was to be our last job together."

Yami nodded. "That is good. Well, I thank you for being as good as frank with me, Mr Kaiba, no matter how long it took. Someone saw you, you know. I may have had to bring her in."

Kaiba looked at him sharply. "What? Someone saw me? Who was it?"

"It was Miss Ishizu."

Kaiba blushed slightly. "Ishizu?"

"She did not tell me so. But I know these things. Unbeknownst to you, I have summoned her. Ryou, tell Ishizu to come inside, please."

Ryou rose to the door and opened it, to see Ishizu standing behind it.

"Ishizu!" Kaiba stood up.

"Seto." She said warmly.

Yami grinned. "Seto, I should like you to tell Miss Ishizu what you were doing in Serenity Moto's cabin on the night of the murder."

Kaiba sighed. "I was stealing her pearls."

Ishizu nodded grimly. She did not look surprised.

"Do you – mind very much?" he asked.

Her deep eyes looked at him scornfully. "Mind? Of course not. I don't approve of stealing, Seto, but everyone has weakness in their hearts. I have it in mine, too."

"Oh, yeah? For what?"

"For you."

Seto stood in stunned silence. It was Yami who spoke. "Here is the box containing the fake pearls, Kaiba. I trust you know what to do."

Kaiba nodded vacantly, still staring at Ishizu.

"You two can go. Mr Kaiba...I'll see you later." Said Yami.

The two younger people nodded, and left the cabin, leaving Yami and a very shocked Ryou alone.

Seto and Ishizu stepped outside to bask in the brilliant light, as the sun faded from the sky, turning it a beautiful orangey-pink. They stared down into the glistening turquoise waters of the Nile below, neither one able to look at the other.

"Well, that is that." He said finally, throwing the false pearls into the Nile. "When I return the box to Yami, the real pearls will be inside. Why didn't you say you'd seen me that night?" he asked her.

"I should have thought that would have been obvious." She remarked.

"Did you truly think I'd done it?"

"Yes. I did. I'm perfectly aware that you're an unscrupulous man, Seto, and that you wouldn't hesitate to kill if there was something you could get out of it."

He smiled wanly. "And that appeals to you, does it?"

She shook her head. "Frankly, it doesn't. I'm one of those people who don't break the law. But – it didn't stop me wanting you." She turned slightly pink as she said these words.

"Now that you know everything – and I suppose you do know everything?"

"Doors on this boat are not soundproof."

"Well – do you still want to be with me?"

She nodded. "Of course."

"I won't bring you gifts. I won't remember your birthday. And I can't promise I'll be the man you want me to be. After all – I'm poor now. Just like everybody else. And I - "

Thankfully, Kaiba was cut off by the presence of Ishizu's lips upon his own.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well, that settles that. I suppose it does settle it, does it? I mean, it was him, right?" Ryou asked anxiously.

Yami shook his head. "I'm afraid Seto Kaiba did not kill Mrs Moto."

Ryou buried his face in his hands and tried to keep himself from screaming. "Well then who in Ra's name was it?!?"

"We're getting there. We are like archaeologists, Ryou. In order to see the artefact as it is we have to scrape away all of the extraneous material. Bakura, Kaiba, Marik Ishtar, Miss Ishizu, Miss Valentine. They are the extraneous matter. Now we can see the truth."

Ryou laughed darkly. "Can we?"

"I see that you still do not believe I know the truth. Well, no matter. Now is the time to find out."

Their meditations were interrupted by the arrival of Dr Tristan, who came with news of a sort.

"Yami. The girl is having a bit of a meltdown. The Tea girl. You should hear her. "I've killed him! I know I have! He'll die! Wah, wah, wah!" You cannot imagine how irritating!"

Yami raised his eyebrows. "So you want us to talk to her? Calm her down?"

"No. I just came to tell you I'll be giving her a sedative. So you may want to question her now, while she is still lucid, should you want to question her at all."

"I don't think I'll be requiring Miss Gardner to answer any more questions for the time being, thank you, doctor."

"Good. Oh, and by the way, what was that you were asking Yugi earlier? Something about a telegram, wasn't it?"

"Yes. Why, do you have something to tell us?"

Dr Tristan shook his head. "No, I was just curious as to what the whole thing was about. Yugi has talked about it. It apparently contained a number of references to fruits and vegetables, particularly aubergines."

Ryou gasped. "Of course! The code!"

The doctor only looked confused. "The code? What code?"

"It's the latest terrorist thing! The CIA has this massive codebreaking machine thing that means they can't use email, so a new terrorist group from Egypt has been using traditional unobtrusive methods of communication, and vegetables are their code words! By saying aubergines, he might as well have been saying firearms!"

Yami nodded. "I've suspected something of the kind for a while."

"So does this mean Yami Marik is the criminal? That telegram was addressed to him."

Yami shook his head for what felt like the millionth time. "He is _your _criminal, not mine. He is the man you were sent here to find and capture, but he is not the murderer of Serenity Moto."

Ryou groaned. "Well then, who is?"

Yami turned to Dr Tristan. "Doctor, your patient is conscious?"

He nodded. "Indeed he is. Miss Hawkins is attending to him. Leon Wilson is also present."

Yami smiled. "Good. Let us go there. Ryou, we are about to tell Yugi Moto who murdered his wife."

END OF CHAPTER 17

A/N; Yay. The next chapter may hopefully be the last one. Or possibly second to last. But you'll get to find out who the murderer is! Yay.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Seriously...still think I own it? I wish...perhaps if I did Bakura would waste less time taking over the world and more time randomly making out with Kaiba...

A/N: OK, Long time no see. AGAIN. Cyber-slap me, if you must. I deserve it grovels. But I am so busy it's like, not even funny.

Death on the Nile Chapter 18

Yami paced the floor of Dr Tristan's cabin, unsure how to word his first sentence. Yugi was lying in bed, a pained expression on his face. The doctor was tending to his patient's wound. Ryou was sitting down, looking extremely anxious, Rebecca Hawkins by his side, observing Dr Tristan.

"Um...Yami?" asked Yugi anxiously. "Don't you have something to tell us?"

Yami nodded absentmindedly. "Oh...yes. Ok, yes. To begin with, Ryou and I, we had a preconceived idea. That idea was that the murder of your wife, Mr Moto, was a spur of the moment crime, one that had been desired, but not planned. That is, the murderer took their opportunity on the night you were shot. There was nothing essentially wrong about this idea, but some things didn't quite add up. The one that stood out for me was the gun. Why, why was the gun belonging to Tea Gardner taken away, when it was so clear the murderer's idea was to incriminate her? And then it hit me. The gun was taken away because it had to be. Because the murderer still needed it."

Ryou gave an audible gasp. Rebecca and Yugi both turned to look at him, puzzled, at which he turned bright pink.

"There were so many important factors all working together on the night of this murder. Which, I can only assume, is the reason I was drugged on the night in question, to make certain that I had no opportunity of taking part in the events of the night. This murder was most certainly _not _a spur of the moment crime. It was a deviously planned and perfectly executed crime. "

Yami paused for breath, and also to let the entirely stunned people around him take in what he was saying.

"One thing that puzzled me from the beginning was the wound in Serenity's head. We both noticed at the time that there were scorch marks around it, suggesting the revolver had been placed very close to her head. But then came the discovery of the velvet scarf, which had obviously been used to wrap around the gun. But that didn't make sense. If a scarf was wrapped around the gun, then there should have been no scorch marks at all. The shot that killed Serenity wasn't deadened at all."

Ryou looked baffled. "But then...how on Earth did nobody hear it?"

"Remember where Serenity's cabin was. On the top deck, far side. Her husband was in Dr Tristan's cabin, being attended to. And the only other cabin was Mai Valentine's."

"And?"

"Don't you remember what Duke Devlin told us when he gave us back the pearls? Mai Valentine was in a train accident. She lost the best part of her hearing. Without her hearing aid in, which she only wore during the day, she wouldn't have a chance of hearing a shot like that. We know it only sounded like a pop anyway."

"Ok." Ryou nodded. "We established that. Mai couldn't hear it. But...Leon Wilson told us he heard a pop. Followed by a splash. That was the gun being thrown overboard, presumably. How could he have heard the shot, then?!"

"Because. There were not two shots, but three. One earlier on, at around quarter past twelve, as Tea Gardner shoots Yugi Moto in the leg. One later still, at around half past, when Serenity is killed. And another, merely two or three minutes after that. That is the shot that everyone heard."

Rebecca shook her head. "This is mad."

"Another thing that puzzled me. The nail polish. The bottles we found in Serenity's bedroom when we were searching it. One bottle contained a substance with a strong smell of nail polish; this was the pale pink bottle. But the other...smelled of vinegar. Could it be red ink? I asked myself, rather than nail polish. But if so, why?

My final question. Ryou and I decided that Vivian Wong had been blackmailing the killer. This is the reason she was killed. When she was talking to us about her activities on the night of the murder, she hints to us. She stated rather cryptically that if she had been unable to sleep, she might have gone up to her mistress' cabin and seen the murderer. Which meant?"

Ryou said slowly: "That she _did _see the murderer."

"Exactly! But why? Why say that to us? If she knows who the killer is, she can either keep her mouth shut and blackmail the killer later, or she can come right out with it and tell us who it was. She does neither. And for that there can only be one reason. She is hinting to the murderer."

Both Ryou and Rebecca gasped. Yugi turned an odd shade of green.

"Which can only mean that the murderer was present at the time. But apart from Ryou and myself, there were only two people present at the time. Yugi Moto...and Dr Tristan."

The doctor stood up, clearly incensed. "I can't believe you're accusing me of killing Serenity! I refuse to listen to any more of this."

Yami looked at him sternly. "You will sit down and you will listen, doctor."

Dr Tristan sat down rather sheepishly.

"Why should Vivian wish to hint to the doctor? He can leave his cabin. She can speak to him any time she wants to. No, there is one and only one person to whom those words can have been directed. Yugi Moto. No...wait. Listen. I will tell you how I came to the conclusions I did."

"This is ridiculous." Muttered Dr Tristan. "Does my testimony not count for anything? I tell you, he could not have moved."

"Ah, yes, but your testimony, doctor, skilled though it is, applies only to the period after which Yugi Moto arrived in you cabin. Not before. What exactly was seen on that fateful night? Tea Gardner was seen shooting a bullet towards Yugi Moto. Red liquid was seen emanating from his leg. And then? He was insistent that everyone in the saloon be removed, most particularly Miss Gardner. And he was left alone in that saloon for around five minutes while Miss Hawkins escorts Tea to her bedroom and Mr Ishtar goes off to fetch the doctor. In that five minutes, Yugi gets up, removes the bottle of red ink from his trouser pocket, runs to his wife's cabin (those were the running footsteps that were heard by Mokuba Kaiba), shoots his wife in the head, replaces the bottle of ink on her nightstand, and runs back to the saloon. He shoots himself in the leg for real this time (this is the shot for which the scarf was used), replaces the cartridge, wraps the gun up in the scarf and throws the whole lot overboard. By the time Malik and Tristan return everything is as it should be. Yugi, by all accounts, cannot have committed the crime. But he did not account for me."

No one spoke. Ryou was sitting there spluttering profusely.

"But, of course, that is only one half of the crime. For who can expect that someone is going to decide to shoot them in the leg? No, it was not chance that Tea Gardner shot Yugi. It was design. Design on the part of a cool, calculating brain – Tea Gardner's brain. The two were once dating. Realize that they are, of course, still dating, and everything becomes clear. They gave each other the alibis that they needed, Yugi by insisting Tea be watched all night, and Tea by shooting Yugi in the leg. If you look at the thing the right way, it answers every question. I should have known from the start that the marriage of Yugi and Serenity was nothing more than a farce. He is not a great actor, are you, Mr Moto? He overdid the devoted husband act.

But, of course, their plan went wrong. Yugi is seen by Vivian Wong. Her first instinct is to tell – she is a good, law-abiding citizen. But then there comes the chance of money, lots of money. She cannot resist. And because of that, she ended up dead. You remember Yugi asked to see Tea? He was telling her about what was going on. She stole a knife from the good doctor's bag and went to take care of the problem. But tragedy struck again. She was seen by Joey Wheeler. He comes to tell Yugi that he knows who killed his wife. Yugi realizes what must have happened and begins repeating her story in an unnecessarily loud voice. He is trying to alert his partner to the danger. She hears, and, quick as lightning, makes her way to her cabin, in which she has stowed away the revolver belonging to Bakura, which she abstracted the previous night. She shoots Joey Wheeler in the head, and steals back into her own cabin."

"But..." began Ryou. "What about the bullet that was fired by Tea? If it didn't go into Yugi's leg, where did it go?"

Yami smiled. "I expect now it is cosy with the fish at the bottom of the Nile. There is a small bullet hole in the table in the observation saloon. Tea could have taken it out and thrown it out the window and time she pleased."

Yami looked about him. All he could see were four stunned faces.

----------------------------------------------

"Tea? May I come in?"

Yami poked his head around Tea Gardner's cabin door. The girl was sitting on the bed. It was clear she had been crying.

"Yami." She sniffed. "Sweet, kind, Yami. Why are you here?"

"To talk to you. I couldn't help myself."

She gave a weak laugh intermingled with a sniff. "You were too clever for us. I thought the plan would work perfectly. But you figured it all out. It was all just speculation though. You never know, if it hadn't been for Yugi going to pieces we might have pulled through. I certainly wouldn't have just broken down and admitted everything. But Yugi _is _weak. Always has been.

We loved each other so much. Still do, actually. When I met him I knew he was the only one for me. I had been rich, but had a terrible year. Yugi, he had always been poor. He never knew what trouble money brings..."

Yami nodded, allowing her to continue.

"We wanted to get married. We loved each other, and – and - "

"And for you that would have been enough."

Tea nodded. "But not for him. He's like a child. Wants things he can't have. The idea of money was always very appealing to him. He wanted to be able to give me, and our children all the things he had never had. It became like an obsession.

And then – Serenity. I took him to meet her and instantly he thought of marrying her. Not because he was attracted to her. I honestly believe he wasn't. He told me he hated that sort of woman – the bossy, domineering sort. We used to joke about it. He used to say "with any luck, she'll croak within a year, and leave me all the dough." And it planted the idea in his head. He used to talk about poisoning her, about all these clever ways of doing it. But he's _not _clever, he's just not. And yet I saw it in him. The desire. He was going to go through with it. But I couldn't let him do it alone. He probably would have just shoved weed killer in her afternoon tea and expected the doctor to say she's died of heart failure. Which meant I had to go in on it too."

Yami nodded almost sympathetically.

"I came up with idea of a sort of two handed alibi. I came up with the concept, and we spent weeks perfecting it. Even though I murdered my best friend, I can't help but feel proud of myself. I know it was clever."

"And the killing itself?"

"I'm getting there. I thought of the idea of following them around. I thought it was a rather nice touch, actually. And then at the hotel, I planted the red herring. I pretended there was someone in the shadows, listening to what I had said. And then – we had to do it. I was glad I didn't have to do it myself. I never would have had the nerve. So he did it. And went and wrote a T in blood on the wall. Idiot. That's exactly the sort of melodramatic thing he _would _think of doing. And the next day he told me about the blackmail, and I had to kill Vivian. It was easy, actually. Surprisingly so. That's the terrifying thing. It's terribly easy – killing people. You begin to feel like it doesn't really matter. That it's just a game. And the next one – killing Joey. I don't really feel it, not even now. I just grabbed the gun and did it, because I knew I had to."

"I pity you, Tea. Very much."

She looked at him sharply. "Don't. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve anyone's pity. I still don't care, you know. About Serenity. Because despite what she said, she never even considered my feelings when it came to Yugi. She just went for him. Just because he didn't really want her doesn't make what she did any better. So I don't pity her. Not really."

Yami got up. "I'll see you soon, Tea."

--------------------------------------------------

The boat came into Shellal at last. It had been a long voyage. All the passengers had felt it. None more keenly than Seto Kaiba and Ishizu, who got off the boat hand in hand.

Yami Marik was greeted by an arrest warrant from the Egyptian police.

"Deserves to be executed, Yugi does." Muttered Ryou. "Don't reckon he will though. Bastard."

Yami nodded mutely.

Mai Valentine stood smoking on the balcony of the lower deck. She was approached by Rebecca.

"Mai? There's something I need to tell you."

"What?" barked Mai.

"I'm getting married."

"You're doing what? To that scoundrel of a Von Schroeder?"

Rebecca laughed haughtily. "As if. I'm marrying Dr Taylor. He and I are going to stay here."

Mai Valentine sniffed, but could think of nothing to say.

Leon came by. "How unfair is that! How can she want to marry an idiot like him?"

Yami shook his head. "Rebecca is not the sort of girl that wants a tough guy, Leon. She is certainly an original girl, I have to say that for her."

Leon shook his head and departed.

Mokuba Kaiba came to stand by Yami and Ryou on the lower deck, as Yugi Moto was carried off the boat in a stretcher, closely followed by a weeping Tea Gardner.

"Can you set him down?" she asked tearfully. "Just for a minute. I'd like to say something to him."

The medics nodded, placing the stretcher down. Tea leant over Yugi, her face close to his.

Two shots. A convulsing young man, and a girl falling beside him. They were dead.

Ryou gasped beside a silent Yami and Mokuba.

He turned to stare at his companion. "You're...not surprised?"

Yami shook his head. "She had two of those guns – a pair. She stashed the other one in Ishizu's purse on the morning of the search so that it wouldn't be discovered on her. She recovered it when she went into Ishizu's cabin to retrieve her lipgloss. That was why I found nothing on my subsequent examination of the purse."

Ryou shook his head. "And so she has taken this way out."

Yami nodded. "I am glad about it. She was guilty of nothing but loving too much. She would have done anything, anything for him. And too much love is dangerous. I warned her of that. At the time, not even I knew the significance of those words. And so Yugi Moto dies an easy death. It is a shame."

The bodies of Tea and Yugi were retrieved. The bodies of Vivian Wong, Joey Wheeler, and finally Serenity Moto were brought ashore.

"It's so sad." Said Mokuba suddenly. "So much death...why must so many romances end in tragedy?"

"Because there is no greater and more dangerous emotion than love. But look here, Mokuba. Not all romances end up that way. Look over there."

Mokuba smiled slightly as he watched his brother holding hands with Ishizu as they sat on a bench together.

Yami nodded. "This experience has, it is true, been harrowing. But, Mokuba, it is over. You are about to start a new life. All you can do is look to the future."

THE END

A/N: OK, so that's the end of that one. Finally. Yay. I hope it wasn't too confusing and that I managed to wrap up all the loose ends, of which there are a lot. If not just tell me.

Thanks for sticking with it, anyone who might have read it, and don't forget to review :p


End file.
